Love is All Around
by Cosima-wants-the-D-elphine
Summary: AU where Carmilla is in a band and Laura is a fan.
1. Crimson & Clover - Joan Jett

"Ms. Karnstein, what do you think of Justin Bieber's latest illegal stunt?" a paparazzo asked her, jogging to keep up as he pointed his camera at her. She glared into the lens.

"I don't even _know_ what he did because knowing would mean_ caring_ and I don't _care_ either," she responded coolly, walking quicker.

"He's known as Hollywood's Bad Boy and some have even begun comparing you to him ever since you punched a fan at one of your own concerts only months ago. Any comments?"

"I already told you, the guy deliberately grabbed my tit. You want me to kindly ask him to stop?" she answered furiously, her eyebrows shooting up. "And as for Beaver, or _whatever_ the twerp's name is, don't ever fucking compare me to that piece of garbage. _Ever_. He can't sing for shit and always wears a loaded diaper as a fashion statement."

"Don't you think that's a little harsh?"

"Didn't he take a swing at one of your people?" Carmilla retorted. "And tackle another?"

"So you _do_ follow up on him."

The girl stopped dead in her tracks and gave the paparazzo a dirty look.

"No, I don't follow up on _Beaver_. But it seems everybody else does, so they put it every-fucking-where. I can't escape this disgusting infection, what is it now, Beaver fever?" she rolled her eyes and began walking again. "More like Beaver _cleaver_. You know what I'd like to cleave off him? His microscopic _dick!_"

And with that, she flipped the camera off before ducking into the hotel and out of its sight.

"Ms. Karnstein!" a woman called after her and she stopped abruptly.

"_What?_" she snapped.

"There is a girl up in your room waiting for you," the woman informed her cautiously. Carmilla blinked in response. "I guess she somehow found out that you were staying here and insisted on seeing you. Also... here. Drink."

The woman held out a glass bottle filled with a red substance. Carmilla eyes the bottle and rolled her eyes.

"Yippee-ki-fucking-yay," Carmilla muttered as she took the beverage and trudged over to the elevator. "It'll be a mob in less than ten minutes. Just you watch."

"Ms. Karnstein—"

"What?" she growled. "I'm going to eject her immediately."

"Just... eject her _politely_ when you do. Please. We don't want to give the media any more dirt on you than they already have."

"We'll see about that..." the vampire grumbled, rapidly and senselessly jabbing at the elevator button with her finger. "Where the hell is this thing? I could've taken the stairs and made it up there by now."

She waited a few more impatient seconds before stomping over to the stairwell and racing up the several flights without ever even breaking a sweat or losing her breath.

Just as she got on her desired floor and stepped out of the stairwell, she heard the elevator ding and its doors open. She rolled her eyes as she went over to her room and swiped her card key. The light above the door handle blinked green she she shoved the door open and slammed it closed upon entering, readying herself to tear into the unwanted guest.

Upon her bed sat a petite girl with light brown hair, childish eyes, and an enthusiastic smile. The vampire let out an inaudible groan.

"What do _you_ want?" she asked sharply, raking her fingers through her hair.

"I heard you were staying here and I wanted to slip in for an exclusive interview," the girl explained, her grin never wavering. She was utterly too peppy for the vampire.

"You don't have a microphone—do you even have a camera?" Carmilla grumbled.

"I _do_ have a camera," the girl countered as she moved to reveal one on the bed behind her. "I have a tripod too."

The vampire sighed heavily and glared at her.

"How much to make you go away?" she asked, digging out her black leather wallet and rifling through her cash.

"Five or ten minutes, tops."

Another death glare from Carmilla.

"_Money_, creampuff..." she venomously informed her. "How much _money_ to make you go away?"

"Five or ten _minutes_," the girl insisted stubbornly.

"Five or ten is quite a difference," Carmilla hissed as she put her wallet away. The girl shrugged innocently. "But it doesn't look like you're going anywhere any time soon, so..."

"Yes! I knew you'd come around," the girl responded excitedly as she sprung up from the bed and began setting up her tripod and camera. The vampire sat cross-legged on the bed and waited for the girl to join her.

Carmilla meant to look over at her with annoyance, but found herself distracted by the girl's shapely derrière. She immediately averted her eyes and cleared her throat, crossing her arms to barricade herself from what was to come.

"Okay, so I am here with Carmilla Karnstein—the one and only," the girl announced brilliantly. The vampire rolled her eyes again.

"I know who I am, cupcake."

"I wasn't talking to you," the girl answered her, her positive exterior showing a flash of frigidity upon being interrupted. The vampire found it amusing, but kept silent as she let the human finish once she turned back to the camera. "I know you're wondering how it is that I, Laura Hollis, managed to get in with such a huge star—"

"Maybe by _rudely_ bypassing my security—"

"—I can barely believe it myself," she continued, ignoring Carmilla's snide comment. She sighed as she turned to look at the vampire and her once illuminated eyes were now daggers. "Do you mind?"

"No," Carmilla answered smugly.

"A-Anyway, now that I'm here, I can finally ask her some questions we're dying to hear the answers to," girl smiled into the lens, though Carmilla could hear the slight shift in her tone. "Carmilla?"

The vampire innocently raised her eyebrows in anticipation.

"How'd you get into the music scene?"

"Same way you got into my hotel room, cutie..." she smirked scornfully. "Just kept pushing."

Laura's jaw dropped with offended anger and she looked at the camera, unsure of how to react.

"Okay, um... Moving on," she forced an awkward smile at the camera. "W-What is currently your favorite song on the radio?"

"This one's easy," the vampire smirked again and looked straight into the human's eyes. "It's called, 'I Hate Everything About You,' isn't that ironic, creampuff?"

"I-Is there anyone in mind when you listen to that song?" Laura asked, though she was sure the message was clear, despite having never listened to that song.

"No comment," Carmilla sighed, leaning up against the wall.

"So anyway... One of my subscribers wants to know: what is your favorite color?"

"Is that a joke?" Carmilla asked, gesturing to her body that was clothed head-to-toe in black.

"O-Okay, I guess that was kind of a given."

"Kind of?"

Laura ignored her and pressed on.

"Another wants to know, 'If you could be any animal in the world, what would you be and why?'"

"What kind of interview is this, Lisa?"

"It's _Laura_," the girl growled. The vampire chuckled, finding joy in her frustration. "And you have to answer the question."

"Oh, I _have_ to?" Carmilla asked challengingly as she uncrossed her arms and leaned into the girl.

"Yeah," the girl retorted matter-of-factly. The vampire smiled.

"_Make_ me."

Laura chewed the inside of her lip furiously and stared at Carmilla's cocky grin.

A little too closely, she found as she discovered just how beautiful the contrast of the singer's lipstick and pearly white teeth really was. She licked her own lips and her eyes darted to the camera, wondering just how gay that looked.

Her viewers knew she was gay. Well, bi. But they knew just how gay she could get. And as far as she was concerned, that little moment that'd just occurred between her and Carmilla was ranked very, exceedingly, tremendously, immensely, intensely, particularly, supremely...

_Gay_.

She began to panic.

"A black panther," Carmilla remarked with a sigh, breaking Laura's distraught state. For extra measure, she growled at her. Quite impressively too. "Then I could just eat you."

"I can actually see that..." Laura laughed nervously and looked to the camera as if pleading for help. She then looked back at Carmilla with realization of her ambiguity and clarified, "The you being a panther part, not you, uh, eating me. Part."

"You can't see me eating you?" Carmilla asked softly as she scooted closer to the girl and laughed coquettishly.

"Um..." was all Laura could get out.

"Isn't there something you want to ask me?"

"What?" Laura asked with confusion.

"We're doing an interview here, princess. I promised you five minutes and we're currently at two minutes and nineteen seconds. I suggest you get a move on," the vampire told her with a teasing tone.

"Um, you promised me five to ten minutes, so we're barely twenty percent through," she retorted. "Next question."

"Shoot."

"Many people do not like the fact that you're so open and honest; you always say exactly what's on your mind as if you do not have a filter—"

"This sounds more like a diss than a question—"

"But why is it that you choose to be so frank?"

"It's important to not let people get clouded by other people's ideologies and perceptions. Beaver may be Hollywood's 'it' boy to some people, but he's also Hollywood's 'shit' boy. Say what you mean and truth hits people like a brick. They may not like it—and they make their disdain very clear—but you never hear them talking about how wrong I am, do you?"

Laura was speechless as she found herself agreeing with the singer.

"Wow. My insight surprise you that much, princess?" Carmilla commented flatly.

"No, no. That was good," she smiled. "Um, so listen... I may or may not have promised them a live performance..."

"Oh, you sing too?" Carmilla asked, feigning surprise and cluelessness. "Can't wait to hear it."

"Uh, no. I... From you."

"Of course," Carmilla nodded. A silence settled between them and Laura glanced at her with urgency. "_What?_"

"Are you going to do it?"

"No," Carmilla told her casually.

"Oh come on... Please?"

"Well, when ya put it that way..." Carmilla sighed and shifted her position as if she were about to get up. "_No_."

"Carm—"

"It's Carmilla," she told Laura as she got up to go fetch her drink. Laura eyed the camera as if she were on a reality show and rolled her eyes.

"Carmilla, please..."

"Do you know how many girls say that to me? Coincidence that you're on my bed too," Carmilla smirked as she took a swig.

It took Laura a moment to understand the insinuation, but once she got it, she blushed madly.

"Okay, um..."

"You know what?" Carmilla remarked as she got up again. "You're cute. Let me go find my guitar."

Laura nodded and watched the vampire begin rummaging through some stuff. She caught herself looking at her ass, her gaze practically burning through the singer's tight black leather pants. She averted her eyes just as Carmilla turned around with a guitar.

"I don't have anything prepared, you know..."

"That's okay."

"It'll just be, um, a little tune. Can't promise much," Carmilla informed her apologetically. "I'm going to improvise so... Here it goes."

The vampire focused solely on her guitar and hummed for a few seconds before closing her eyes and beginning to sing:

_Light shinin' deep in your eyes,  
__You make me smile a thousand smiles.  
__But I'm a tin man with broken parts,  
__Too much time alone,  
__So many broken hearts.  
__Yet all I want right now  
__Is to dream about a sunset with you.  
__You say you're still searchin' for a clear sky  
__And I've been known to travel,  
__But I'll adore you as best I can  
__'Cause I know I could spend my whole life  
__Just holdin' onto your hand.  
__Just holdin' onto your hand..._

As she held out the last note, she opened her eyes and happened to look up at Laura, immediately losing all concentration and forgetting what she'd planned for the next line. So instead, she simply strummed and eventually diminuendoed to a stop.

The human seemed to be in a trance and only came to a few seconds after the music stopped.

"I-I've never heard that one," Laura stuttered. "Is that new?"

"Improv, cupcake. Remember?" Carmilla smirked as she set her guitar down. Laura nodded as it came back to her.

"Right..." she paused. "Does it have a name?"

"No..." Carmilla responded after a hesitation. She cocked her head at the human. "Not yet. Alright, it's been six and a half minutes, so time to scoot."

"You're a real jerk, you know that?" Laura laughed, knowing Carmilla had definitely softened in the past six and however many seconds had passed.

"Yep."

"And that doesn't bother you?"

"Nope."

"Why not?"

"Because you can't care what anybody thinks about you," Carmilla responded. "That's no way to live."

Laura stared at her.

"Oh, I _know!_" Carmilla dramatically implicated sarcasm. "_Two_ philosophical statements? In the past few _minutes?_ Damn, Carmilla, you're more than just a broody face!"

"No, I'm just—"

"Surprised? You're pretty quick to pass judgement, creampuff."

"It's _Laura_."

"What is?"

"Never mind," she rolled her eyes and stood up. "You know, we were having a really nice moment there and now you're just killing it."

"What can I say? I'm a tin can."

"You said tin _man_..." Laura countered promptly before blushing as it showed just how closely she was listening. Carmilla paused and gazed at her and Laura could swear she saw a flash of an impressed countenance cross the singer's eyes for a split second.

"You're right," Carmilla nodded with amusement. "I did say tin man."

The two girls took to just looking at each other and only stopped when there were three short raps on the door. Carmilla went over and looked through the peephole before opening it to one of her security guards.

"Ms. Karnstein, a strange man just entered the hotel and he's looking for you. Do not answer the door for anyone except for any of us on the security team. Do you understand?"

"Um—"

"Ms. Karnstein!"

"Yeah, yeah. I understand," she told him.

"Excellent. We are searching the hotel for him right now."

Carmilla nodded before closing the door and locking it. She looked up to a panic-stricken Laura, who'd already turned the camera off and packed everything up.

"It's fine, creampuff. This shit happens all the time," Carmilla chuckled. "But I'd put your stuff down if I were you. You're not going anywhere for a while."

"What do you mean? I have to go—"

"Uh-uh. You're lucky you even got up here in the first place. But with a madman on the loose, there's no way they're letting anyone in or out. Face it, cutie. You're stuck with me."

"No, no, no. This can't be happening..." Laura murmured as she began to pace.

"Hey, I don't exactly love it either," Carmilla told her, crossing her arms.

"No, you don't understand—I have to have this uploaded tonight," Laura told her seriously. Carmilla set her hands in her hips and stared at her dully.

"_Really?_" she responded flatly.

"Yes. _Really_."

Another few seconds of hard staring from the singer.

"_Fine_..." she sighed, growing annoyed at herself for seeming to always cave for the girl. She'd let her get away with being in her room, let her get away with an interview—hell, she'd even given her an exclusive, improvised live performance. Why not just let her get away with one more thing while she was at it? "You can use my laptop."

"Really?" Laura asked, practically jumping up and down. Carmilla hung her head and nodded as she gestured to the computer on the table.

"Be my guest, cupcake."

"Oh my God—thank you, thank you, thank you!" Laura exclaimed, bouncing over to it.

"I'm going to put in for some room service... Is there anything you want?"

"I'm actually a pescetarian, so—"

"Hold on, a pez-shooter what now?" Carmilla asked.

"_Pescetarian_—"

"Salad for you then... I hate seafood," Carmilla grumbled as she began to dial the room's phone. Laura's gaze lingered on her before she turned back to the laptop and began loading the video onto it.

"Nice try, Ms. Karnstein..." her bodyguard told her with a scolding tone. She hung up and sighed.

"Well, room service is a bust..." she eyed the back of the human girl sitting at her table. She smirked as she crept up behind her and set her hand on the back of her chair and leaned over her, startling Laura—and drawing out a sharp gasp—as she began to talk. "Feel like eating out?"

"Um, excuse me?" Laura asked.

"Would you like to eat out?" Carmilla repeated, with an ever so slight curve to the corners of her mouth.

"I, uh... We can't go anywhere, remember?"

"You're right, Lisa—"

"_Laura_—"

"Whatever. We can't go anywhere, but our lesser known counterparts can."

"What?"

"C'mon, we're sneaking out," Carmilla rolled her eyes and grabbed Laura's hand.

"Okay, whoa, whoa, whoa... There's a madman somewhere out there and you think we're going to get by_ him?"_

"Hm... You're right. You sneak out first and I'll meet you around back."

"What? No."

"C'mon, Laura."

The amateur interviewer smiled at the correct name as she realized that Carmilla probably knew her name the entire time and only used 'Lisa' to piss her off.

But she soon regained a more serious composure and gave the singer a hard time by answering, "I don't even know you."

"You have a YouTube channel dedicated to obsessing over me. I highly doubt the verity of that statement—you probably know more about me than _I _know about me. It'll be less than five minutes."

"Fine..." Laura sighed. "But only because rendering takes an eternity."


	2. Echo - Incubus

Laura shivered in the chilly night air as she eyed a black alley cat walk behind some dumpsters, licking its chops. She shuddered and turned away, not wanting to think about what it had probably just eaten. After a few seconds, she felt a presence behind her and turned to see Carmilla in a leather jacket with its hood pulled up.

"Hey, cutie."

"H-Hey," Laura shook with the cold once more. "Where'd you come from?"

Carmilla ignored Laura's question and looked around, sighing as she shrugged her jacket off and draped it over the girl's shoulders.

"Thanks."

"Where to, princess?" Carmilla asked as she flagged down a taxi.

"Um, well there's this little café I typically go to..." Laura answered.

"Tell the driver, not me," Carmilla politely told her as she opened the door for her and got in after her. Laura leaned forward to tell the man and he nodded his head before he started to drive.

The girl then turned to talk to Carmilla, but the artist seemed to be lost in the moving scenery out her window and Laura also noticed that she held a small notepad and pen.

"Are you writing something?" Laura asked her curiously. Carmilla's head snapped to look at her before she nodded.

"I'm supposed to have some material ready in a few days... Working on a new album," the singer explained. "I'm kinda in the hole though. I've been completely dry until today."

"How many songs do you have prepared?"

"One and it's only a partial," the singer chuckled as she slid her pen in the rings of the notepad. "Remember the improvised song I sang you?"

Laura nodded.

"That's it," Carmilla admitted. "And I can't even remember how it went."

"W-Well... I do," Laura told her shyly.

"Do you?" Carmilla asked with interest. "Light shinin' deep in your eyes..."

"You make me smile a thousand smiles," Laura answered without hesitation.

"Oh right!" Carmilla smiled and continued, "But I'm a tin man with broken parts; too much time alone, so many broken hearts—"

"Yet all I want right now is to dream about a sunset with you. You say you're still searchin' for a clear sky—"

"And I've been known to travel, but I'll adore you as best I can 'cause I know I could spend my whole life just holdin' onto your hand..." Carmilla nodded with surprising tranquility as she wrote it all down. "Thanks, cupcake."

"Why do you keep calling me that?" Laura laughed.

"'Cause you're sweet."

The words slipped out of Carmilla's mouth before she could stop them and she instantly regretted them the moment they resonated within the vehicle's walls. She looked down at the notepad in her hands, allowing her hair to form a dark curtain between them as she peeked through it at Laura, who smiled bashfully. Carmilla even found herself smiling as she moved her gaze back to the song written before her.

The margin at the top of the page remained blank, just waiting for a title to be scrawled across it and Carmilla chewed her pen gently before writing a title across it. She glanced at the title for a few seconds before closing the notepad and sighing.

After a few minutes, she head Laura's cellphone vibrate and she looked over at her questioningly. The girl pulled out her phone and checked it.

"Oh wow..."

"What? What is it?" Carmilla asked as she watched a huge grin spread on the brunette's face. "Laura?"

"My video uploaded rather quickly apparently and... I already have over a hundred views!" Laura exclaimed. "They _love_ you!"

"Um... Pretty sure they're there for _you_."

"No, no! They thought our entire exchange was golden!" Laura excitedly told her. "There's even speculation on whether or not it's scripted..."

"Um, what part of 'improv' do they not understand?"

"No, not that part. They believe you really were improvising. But the rest... They loved every second!"

"Glad I could help."

"Hey, since we're stuck with each other, I was thinking... Maybe we could do a part two?" Laura suggested. Carmilla threw her a look.

"Are you kidding me?" she replied flatly. "Laura, I didn't even want to do a part one."

"Pretty please?"

"Well, when you put it that way... _No_," the vampire smirked. Laura pouted and Carmilla sighed before nodding and saying, "_Fine_."

"I knew you'd come around," Laura exclaimed as she made the announcement in the description. She looked over at the singer once more, but saw her writing furiously, so she decided not to bother her. "Ooh, it's right here, Sir."

The taxi stopped and Carmilla took out her wallet and paid before exiting with Laura in tow.

"I should've known..." Carmilla muttered as the pink and blue lights flashed before her. She shook her head, but escorted the human inside nonetheless.

"Like you said. We're stuck with each other."

"_Bummer_," Carmilla replied with a smirk as they sat down.

"So I saw ya writing," Laura told her expectantly with her eyebrows raised.

"Yeah. But it's only one song. I needed at least five."

"Ooh..."

"Hello! My name is Roman and I am going to be your waiter today," he told them amiably. His overall jubilance made Carmilla want to gag. "Can I start you ladies off with anything to drink?"

"A hot chocolate maybe?" Laura asked and he nodded before looking at Carmilla.

"What she said," the singer told him with disinterest.

"Alright. I'll be right back with those," he smiled as he went away. Carmilla rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Why do they always say that? 'I'll be right back.' It takes 'em a good fifteen minutes," Carmilla complained as she put her feet up on the opposing booth and next to Laura. The human eyed her booted feet with contempt before she aggressively shoved them off. Carmilla chuckled.

"So... Is part two going to consist of your snarky façade or are you actually going to open up to me?" Laura teased.

"That depends... Are the questions going to consist of ones to which answers are obvious or stupid?" Carmilla shot back before she noticed that the girl had somehow managed to whip out her camera and start filming again. The vampire put her hand in front of the lens and smiled, but Laura used her free hand to move the blockade.

"I don't know," she laughed.

"Here you are," Roman announced as he set the two mugs down in front of them with another scripted smile. He glanced at the camera, slightly curious, but he never said anything.

"Wow, this is _hot_..." Carmilla commented before looking up at him flirtatiously. "Like you."

The camera captured Laura's jealous reflection and Carmilla's smug glance at her; it was quite comical to the viewer. Even Roman didn't know how to react.

"Oh, uh, thank you... Can I get you something to eat?" he asked as he took out a pen and pad.

"Ladies first," Carmilla told Laura, who was still recovering from the vampire's smooth line.

"I'm not very hungry all the sudden..." Laura grumbled as she stopped recording and set the camera down. The singer smirked and looked back to Roman.

"What she said."

The man nodded before saying, "Well if either of you change your minds... Just let me know."

Laura watched him walk away before turning to Carmilla and asking, "Okay, what was that all about?"

"Relax, _sundance_... Just watch. It'll be on the house."

"What?"

"It's called flirt for an advantage. You ought to try it out sometime," the singer told her.

_"That's _unethical."

Carmilla raised an eyebrow as she set her face to express cockiness and faced the camera dead on and replied, "Better than spray painting a hotel wall in Rio."

Laura shook her head.

"Oh, c'mon. Anyone who really knows me knows that I'm gay," Carmilla chuckled. "Are you _jealous_, cupcake?"

"No," Laura answered a little too quickly for her liking. "Not at all."

"If you say so..." Carmilla leaned closer to Laura on her arms and whispered, "But between you and me, green is a _great_ color on you."

Laura rolled her eyes just as three men burst into the restaurant and pointed at the two of them.

"Shit!" Carmilla cursed, jumping to her feet. Laura quickly grabbed her camera and started recording once again.

"What? What is it?"

"They found us!" Carmilla told Laura as she grabbed her hand and ran around the diner's counter to the kitchen.

"You're not supposed to be back here—"

"I know, I know!" Carmilla snapped. "But we need another way out of here. Can we use this back door?"

He nodded and the vampire yanked the human along only to run out into a dark alley.

"_This_ looks safe," Laura commented facetiously.

"It is. _I'm_ here," Carmilla murmured under her breath. They snuck around the building and started briskly walking in the opposite direction.

"So this is a day in the life of Carmilla Karnstein!" Laura announced as she pointed the camera at the singer.

"Oh my _God_, Laura. Fuck off," the singer smiled and shook her head. She hailed a cab and they got in before Carmilla asked him to drop them off at the hotel.

"So, Carmilla—"

"Gimme that," she ordered as she snatched the camera from Laura and turned it on her. "Greetings, Lisa's viewers!"

"It's Lau—"

"This is Carmilla Karnstein reporting for duty. Here we have _Lisa Hollister_. Now, tell me... How did you get into interviewing?"

"Well, _Caramel Kardashian_, I like to learn about people," Laura answered. "It's nice to see them as who they really are rather than a scripted version. It's very... Candid."

"Caramel Kardashian? That's the best you got, _Lilypad_?"

Laura burst out laughing as she corrected herself, "That's Caramel, but with a K."

"_Karamel_?"

"Yeah. _Karamel_ Kardashian."

"How very clever-with-a-capital-K of you."

"Thank you."

"So what do you like most about _Karamel Kardashian_?" Carmilla asked.

"There's more than one side to her."

The vampire set the camera down and stared at the human. Laura shrugged before she grabbed the camera back and aimed it at Carmilla.

"My turn, _Caramel_. What's your fave thing about Lisa?"

"You did _not_ just say the word 'fave.'"

"I did."

"Well. I'd say the thing I like most about _Leapfrog_ is that she's not one to budge. She is headstrong, but... I guess it's something to love—_like_," Carmilla stumbled. "It's something to _like_... Can you turn that off? For now?"

Laura nodded and ended the recording, leaving Carmilla alone to write for the rest of the car ride.

The vampire tipped him again without him asking, Laura turned the camera back on as they left and sprinted into the hotel and up to her room.

"And _here_ we have the _rare_ black panther on the_ prowl_," Laura whispered in a terrible, generic Australian accent. "Notice how she keeps to the shadows so as not to be seen—"

"Would you hush up?" Carmilla hissed, though she chuckled as she said it. She stabbed at the elevator button impatiently. After what seemed like forever, the doors slid open and they hopped inside.

"I am currently in an elevator with the _rare_ black panther of the Caramel species... But don't be fooled. She cannot be caged by such walls..."

"Oh my _God_, Laura..."

The doors parted once again and they stepped out onto the proper floor and made their way to Carmilla's room. She swiped the key card and let Laura and herself inside.

"Okay, just let me get set up..." Laura murmured as she snapped the camera back on the tripod while Carmilla took her spot on the bed.

"Take your time, creampuff."

"And we're back for a part two!" Laura declared triumphantly for the camera. "After some convincing, Carmilla finally agreed."

"How could I say no to a face like that?"

"Anyway, Carmilla has been writing, writing, writing—all night! Her new material is due in a couple days and so far, she has only _one_ song complete out of a minimum of _five_."

"Actually, they can technically drop it to three—"

"_Will_ she make it? Or will she fall victim to the showbiz machine?"

"Okay, I would _die_ before I let anyone write a song for me. Co-writer is as low as I get," Carmilla informed her.

"There's the passionate panther we all know and love. And time for our first question," Laura told her with a friendly smile. She squinted at her phone screen with confusion and finally Carmilla took it from her and scanned the text, laughing at its content.

"Crazy4carm asks: top or bottom?" Carmilla read aloud, still amused with the question. "_Laura_?"

"Um... What exactly is that asking?"

"What do _you_ think it's asking?"

Laura took a few moments to think hard.

"I'd prefer the bottom bunk—"

The vampire burst out laughing and chucked the phone toward Laura as she tried and failed to recover.

"Hey, hear me out. I'd prefer the bottom bunk because if you rolled out of bed, you'd have less a distance to fall."

"Oh, _honey_..." Carmilla wiped a tear and forced herself to stop laughing. "That is not what the question is asking. At _all_."

"What, then?"

"To put it simply... Would _you_ like to top _me_ or would you prefer it if _I _topped_ you?_" Carmilla smirked. Laura's face fell with embarrassment and the singer couldn't believe how much she enjoyed the notion of it all being captured on film.

"Okay, we're not answering that question," she hurriedly declared as she scrolled and searched for a new one.

"Why not?"

"Because that's... it's personal."

"Is it? So _have_ you thought about it?" Carmilla inquired and Laura blushed.

"N-No, I—"

"_Worst_. _Liar_. _Ever_," the singer whispered.

"Carmillasass—ooh, I wonder. Does it mean 'Carmilla's ass' or 'Carmilla sass'—"

"Probably the former—"

"Anyway, she writes in: what is your favorite thing to do on stage?"

"Kick shit and bang other shit," Carmilla nodded at the camera.

"She is known to kick stools, bass drums and smash guitars as well as the crash symbols of said drum sets," Laura told the camera.

"And throw mics," Carmilla proudly added.

"And throw mics," Laura affirmed with a dreamy smile.

"What instruments do you know how to play?"

"Piano... Guitar... I know some drums, but those kinda limit you on stage, you know?" Carmilla shrugged. "The basics. That way if anyone in my band quits on me, I can still record my own shit."

"Awesome," Laura nodded. "At what age did you start singing?"

"Ooh... It's been so long, I don't remember..." Carmilla added with a mysterious twinkle in her eyes.

"You know, this is going so much more smoothly now that you're cooperating."

"Sorry," Carmilla responded. "Forgot I'm a jerk."

"Carmilla's not really a jerk," Laura told the camera confidently and the vampire rolled her eyes before yawning and stretching. "Do you want to go to bed?"

"What?" Carmilla's eyes snapped open before she realized that Laura hadn't put an insinuation behind the question whatsoever and she shrugged. "Eh."

"I mean... It is kinda late," Laura admitted as she looked the clock. Carmilla's eyes followed her line of gaze and chuckled.

"It's nine-thirty," she told her. "But I do have an album meet up tomorrow, so... Maybe I should."

"Alright, I'll turn it off," Laura told her as she got up and did just that. She stared at the single king-sized bed in the room.

"Relax, creampuff. I got a two-room suite. That door over there now leads to your side," Carmilla gestured to an awkwardly placed door and Laura nodded.

"Thanks."

Carmilla grunted as she began taking her shirt off right in front of the unsuspecting girl. Laura's eyes fell upon the singer's bare skin before she caught herself and averted her gaze.

"Okay! Well! I'm... I'm gonna go," Laura told Carmilla as she gathered her things and went into the neighboring, connected room. The vampire peeked over her own shoulder and smirked at Laura just as the door closed behind her.

Carmilla cocked her head as she stared at the door for a few more longing seconds as she listened to Laura through the wall separating them. She could hear everything.

The soft sound of her clothing's fabric running against her skin as it came off...

Carmilla's head straightened as she realized what exactly she was hearing. Laura hadn't brought a change of clothes, so why was she taking them off? She couldn't possibly be one to sleep without clothes, could she?

She heard Laura's soft, rhythmic footsteps walk to her right—Laura's left—and a soft creak of the bed as Laura crawled onto it. A flutter of the sheets and Laura was in as far as Carmilla knew.

The vampire relaxed and removed the rest of her clothes before going to lie down in her own bed and stare at the ceiling. She had no intention of sleeping, however, and after about fifteen minutes of studying the plain ceiling above her, she got up and switched a single dim light on and began to write.

_I gave you a black canvas  
__And I sit in wonder as you paint your picture  
__Across my heart.  
__Inch by inch,  
__You make everything right.  
__And I gave you my frigid, dark world  
__And I sit in wonder as you warm it  
__With your light..._


	3. Open Your Heart - Madonna

Laura found Carmilla in her pajamas, which consisted of flannel pants and a tight tank top, passed out in a chair with a notepad and pen in front of her. It was cute—_she _was cute.

The petite brunette wondered if she should just leave—was that proper etiquette? She had no idea. She stood there for a few minutes, feeling creepy the whole time, wondering what to do.

She shrugged and went back to her room and decided to pretend to sleep. The she could just "wake up" and coincidentally the same time as Carmilla and avoid any awkwardness in regards to leaving.

She tiptoed slowly toward the open door, stopping dead in her tracks when Carmilla stirred.

"You having fun there, cupcake?" Carmilla muttered, straightening up from her previous slumped over position.

"You're not asleep?"

"I never sleep," Carmilla told her. "Sleep is for the weak and living."

"That's funny because it looked like you were sleeping a few minutes ago," Laura responded. "If you weren't sleeping, what were you doing?"

"Were you watching me?" Carmilla teased as she rose from her seat. Laura had no snappy reply for that. She'd been caught red-handed.

"No... I was... Just about to get going," Laura told her gently, not wanting to come off as rude. "You've been really nice to me and I don't want to overstay my welcome. And besides, I'm going to make you late for your meeting or whatever."

"What, my studio sesh?" Carmilla asked before shrugging. "You wanna come with?"

"Really?" Laura inquired with surprised delight. She forced herself to tone it down a bit. "Yeah."

"Awesome," Carmilla offered a small, genuine smile. "My publicist is gonna swing by any minute now... Something she wants to talk about with me or something like that."

Before Laura could answer, three tight raps on the door cut her off.

"And that'd be her," Carmilla guessed as se went to answer the door. "Melissa! Come on in."

She made a face at Laura, conveying her true feelings of annoyance toward this woman before turning around and facing her with a more neutral expression. The woman stepped dramatically into the room and threw her arms out as she spoke.

"Carmilla! Darling! I—" the woman stopped abruptly upon seeing Laura, dropping her arms and her smile before plastering a pleasant expression back on her face. "_Who i_s this?"

"This is Laura Hollis."

"Oh God... You already know her first and her last name..." the woman muttered under her breath so Carmilla wouldn't hear. She cleared her throat and asked "Carmilla. _Honey_... May I speak to you in the hall? _Please_?"

She added that last word through clenched teeth as she motioned for the singer to follow her. Carmilla glanced at Laura apologetically before shrugging and following the woman outside, closing the door behind them.

"What do you think you're doing?" she asked with blatant frustration.

"I think I'm having a cryptic conversation in the middle of a hotel hallway," Carmilla responded with agitation.

"What is she doing here?"

"She spent the night," Carmilla casually told her without a second thought. Her publicist stared at her until Carmilla understood her perception of the statement.

"She spent the night?" she hissed.

"No, not like that. She—"

"Uh-uh!" the woman raised a hand. "I don't want to know. The less I know, the better."

"Just let me explain—"

"No time for that. She's already made you late enough as it is," the publicist shook her head and grabbed her client's hand. "We have to go now."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Carmilla exclaimed as she pulled away from her. "I can't just _leave_. Laura's still in there. That'd be _rude_."

"Good. It'll get rid of her for good. She'll never bother you again," the woman told her. "That's what you wanted, right? All you wanted to do was get rid of her."

"Where'd you get an idea like that?"

The woman paused and took out her phone. Within seconds, Carmilla was watching her bitchy self on a YouTube video with Laura. The part one of their interview.

"If she wasn't so starstruck, she'd probably _hate_ you," Melissa told her. "I know I'd never let anyone treat me like that. All she did was say hi—in fact, she didn't even get to _that_ and you were already being a sarcastic sourpuss."

Carmilla's head hung. She knew the woman was right.

"Now that we've got that cleared up, let's go. You're ten minutes late now," the woman urged as she took the girl's arm again. Carmilla only let her drag her a few steps before ripping herself away again.

"I'm not leaving Laura in there," she told her firmly. "Besides. I already invited her to join me in the studio."

"You _what_?" the woman forcefully asked as Carmilla unlocked the room door and went back inside, leaving her in the hall waiting.

"You coming, cupcake?"

Laura nodded and followed Carmilla out to see the woman looking dour.

"If she's coming with you, she's going to have to change," Melissa reluctantly declared as she pointed to Laura. "She's too peppy and innocent-looking... And she looks like she slept in those."

"That's because she did," Carmilla reminded her. Melissa looked to the darker haired girl and nodded at her once.

"Lend her something, would you? Someone like you shouldn't be caught_ dead _near something so... _pastel_," the woman turned her nose up at the word as she walked away without them. "Meet me in the limo when she's done changing."

"C'mon..." Carmilla sighed as she unlocked the door for a second time and led Laura into the room. "Closet's over there. Do whatever you like."

Laura glanced at her before going to the closet hesitantly. Carmilla turned around to allow her privacy and sat on the bed, leaning onto her elbows and running her temples.

After a few minutes, Laura verbalized the okay and Carmilla checked her out—a bonus for her because it didn't matter how oblivious she was.

Laura wore a bright green band tee under a purple flannel shirt with grey stone-washed jeans and combat boots. Carmilla masked her cringe and went over to her.

"Okay... This is _worse_ than the pastels," Carmilla teased her as she gently removed the flannel shirt from Laura's shoulders.

"I don't know how this works," Laura shrugged. "For a look that says 'I don't try a lot,' you sure do try a lot."

"_Exactly_," Carmilla laughed. This was only the second time Laura had heard her laugh—she'd chuckled a few times, but none of those really counted. Just conversational cues, really. She'd only laughed one other time, when she'd read the sexual question from one of Laura's viewers.

Carmilla went over to the closet and looked at her selection before pulling out a black Rolling Stones shirt and a red flannel shirt as she pointed to the red parted lips and tongue and showing Laura how it matched the flannel.

Laura nodded as she watched Carmilla return to the closet, her level of concentration clear.

Next, she took out some leather pants and threw them over the two shirts, before choosing a simple pair of black converse. Yet still she seemed to be searching for something else.

"Put those on... You still need an accessory though," Carmilla murmured as her eyes ran along the top shelf. Laura dressed herself, all the while watching Carmilla as she reached for a black bowler hat.

She could smell Carmilla on the clothes. It was a gentle smell, and yet it was distinct but pleasant. There was really only one way to describe how she smelled and that was in the words of Lana Del Rey: she smelled like a million roses bathed in rock and roll. Which was corny, but the only way to verbalized it. Laura savored the sweet scent.

Carmilla turned around and was momentarily stunned and slightly turned on by the sight of Laura in her clothes.

"_Wow_..." she breathed dumbly, allowing a moment of weakness before covering it up before it could register in Laura's mind. She handed the hat to her. "Put that on and you're good."

Laura obeyed and put the hat on the top of her head. Carmilla shook her head and pushed the hat so it was slightly back and tilted with the slant of the posterior side of Laura's skull.

"Okay, how the heck do you keep this on your head?" Laura asked, fiddling with it. It seemed like it was going to slide off at any moment.

"Carefully," Carmilla told her seriously before allowing a small smile to cross her face. Laura looked hot.

Dressing her up was a mistake and Carmilla would pay for it when she was trapped in the studio with her and trying to concentrate. And she was just going to have to deal with it when the time came. But God, did she look hot. Carmilla could almost _kiss _her.

_Almost_.

"Come on," Carmilla said, catching her breath as she and Laura made their way out to the limo where Melissa impatiently waited.

"Half an hour late," she grumbled as the door closed behind them. She eyed Laura, scrutinizing her outfit. "That was the best you could do?"

"_I _picked that out," Carmilla came to Laura's rescue.

"It's okay, I guess..." Melissa mumbled before shutting right up. Carmilla rolled her eyes and took out her phone. She wanted to talk shit about Melissa over text with Laura, but remembered that she didn't actually have Laura's number.

She wondered if she ever should give her her number. For a celebrity to trust a fan with their number, well, that was a leap of faith.

Not that Laura had done anything to make Carmilla distrust her.

Instead, she plugged her headphones in and went to look at Laura's channel on YouTube, wondering what the hell she'd find.

106 videos. Not bad. She scrolled until she found the very first one. If she was going to creep on Laura, she was going to do it right and in order. She tilted her phone screen away from the girl sitting next to her so she couldn't see what she was watching.

She'd only gotten to the sixth video or so when she felt the limo go into park. She exited and put her phone on sleep mode before she unplugged her headphones and draped them around her neck.

From the six videos, she'd gathered three solid facts about Laura.

She was a really gay bisexual. Like, _really_ fucking gay. Which was great.

Laura was basically in love with her in practically every way. And she was one of the "ringleaders" of her queer fan base. Which was even cooler.

And she could sing. Laura fucking Hollis could _sing_. And she was damn good at it too. Carmilla had seen two covers already and she was addicted to her voice, its pitch, range, and every little unique intonation it contained. The songs weren't hers, yet it seemed she bared her soul with every recorded performance.

"Carmilla!" Melissa called, her voice back to its sickly-sweet tone. Carmilla jumped but promptly got out of the limo with Laura in tow.

"Did you get to the one where I freaked out about your tweet replying to one of my tweets about you?" Laura sheepishly asked. "Because that one is a good ten minutes long..."

Carmilla looked at her quizzically as she asked, "How'd you know?"

"Window reflection," Laura told her smugly before adding, "_Cutie_."

Carmilla threw her am impressed look as Melissa led them into the building. The singer went through her tweets, desperately looking for the one tweet she'd made that Laura had referenced—she didn't remember ever talking to her.

**laura2thelyrics:** _carmkarn's "Everything I've Got" is my lady jam! #FALLAPART_

Oh right. Upon looking at the date, she saw that it was the day she'd dropped her most recently released album. She then looked at her own reply.

**carmkarn:** _laura2thelyrics, thank you for your kind words! Fan reactions like yours mean the world to me._

Carmilla wrinkled her nose at the reply. She hadn't typed those words, her rep had. She felt a little bad as Laura probably didn't know that, but it was the past and there was nothing she could do about it now.

"There's my favorite little rock star!" a man called to her and waved. "You got those five songs for me, hon?"

Carmilla looked over at Laura, who seemed to be dreading her answer, and then at Melissa, who seemed to be doubting her abilities. Carmilla nodded at him, surprising both of the women.

"Excellent! Can I see them?"

"Sure," Carmilla shrugged as she handed her little notebook over. He took it and began flipping through it, scanning the writing.

"Whoa, there! Someone got a little proactive... You've got enough here for a full album already!"

"How did you...?" Laura asked softly. Carmilla grinned at her without an answer just as the man closed the notebook.

Melissa glared at them, but kept her mouth shut.

"These are all _golden_," he complimented her brightly as he tucked the notebook into his pocket. "You want to start recording now? I'd love to hear this first one—'Lisa' is it?"

"Sure," Carmilla nodded, her gaze lingering on Laura for a moment before she disappeared into the booth.

The man flipped a switch and a light shone down on Carmilla, her jet-black hair glossy under the light. He flipped another switch and began to speak to her.

"Alright, hon. Just sing your little heart out like you usually do. We'll be just on this other side of the wall listening."

_Light shinin' deep in your eyes,  
__You make me smile a thousand smiles.  
__But I'm a tin man with broken parts..._

He pressed the button off, so he couldn't be heard, and turned to Laura. "And who might you be?"

"Laura Hollis," she answered amiably and stuck out a hand. He shook it and smiled.

"You her girlfriend or something?" he inquired.

"No, she's not," Melissa sternly answered for her. The man glanced at her before looking at Laura, who shook her head and hoped the blush she felt rising wouldn't show itself on her face. Unbeknownst to her, it didn't, but her face still felt like it was on fire. "You two gonna do a collab?"

Laura shook her head again.

"I'm just here because she invited me, to be honest..." she told him.

"I was getting there," he joked. "That was my next guess. I'm Mitch."

"Nice to meet you, Sir."

"Please. _Mitch_," he insisted. He looked toward Carmilla, who sat behind the one-way glass, lost in her song. He gestured toward her. "Voice of an angel, huh?"

Laura nodded, trying to contain herself.

"She's very talented," Melissa agreed, her anger seeming to fade slightly.

"Most of her songs are done in one or two takes," Mitch went on. "Can't say that for a lot of singers—and even less for those her age. Do you sing?"

"A little," Laura replied humbly. "So far I've only really done covers."

"That's good—Carmilla has a habit of dating other artists like yourself," he informed her with a wink. Melissa cleared her throat and Laura froze at the awkward comment. Mitch just burst out laughing, "I'm just messing with you."

Laura let out a nervous giggle, "Of course you were, Sir—_Mitch_."

"But seriously, whatever you are to her—girlfriend or not—keep doing it. Her albums have always had a bittersweet twinge to them, but her last three've been downright _depressing_... Her relationship with her girlfriend, Ell, had just ended and it broke her—"

Laura knew about that. Ell's death had swept the media four months ago and no one would leave the poor grieving Carmilla alone. Ell had been killed by a drunk driver and it shocked everyone. Laura even saw Melissa's expression soften at the mention of the incident.

"I wanted her to wait to release it—" Melissa began.

"And I agreed," Mitch put in.

"—I thought maybe she'd think twice and pull some from the track listing... But she insisted. I thought she'd lose fans for dropping devastatingly heartbreaking bomb after bomb," Melissa admitted.

"Did she?" Laura asked.

"No... If anything, it _gained_ her some," Mitch shook his head. "In fact, anything she does that we—her management, publicist, rep, me, and others—have doubt in seems to flourish anyway. She seems to have a knack for manipulating the media somehow. She may be bitchy and sarcastic at times, but she makes it work for her. That's her public persona. She's a real sweetie when you get to know her. But my point is, the songs she showed me today... They have little glimmers of hope in them. Twinges of a potential regrowth of love in her."

"She was just lonely," Melissa told him stiffly as she crossed her arms. "That's how showbiz is. It's all fun and games until you realize you can't trust anyone. Her last girlfriend, the one before Ell, leaked a bunch of dirt on Carmilla. Stuff she'd told her in confidence."

Laura knew about that too. The lesbian fan base went batshit crazy and ranted about what a backstabbing bitch she was. Admittedly, they probably went a little overboard, but love makes you do crazy things. Not that that's an excuse, of course.

"Carmilla was ready to commit," Mitch speculated. "I was sure of it."

Laura looked at Melissa, who didn't seem to disagree with the claim. The publicist's eyes went to the floor.

"You wanna see something?" Mitch asked as he pulled Carmilla's notebook from his back pocket. Melissa gave him a look that told him not to do what he was about to do, but he ignored it. He flipped to a song and held it out to Laura, who took it and began to read it for herself.

**_LISA  
_**_Light shinin' deep in your eyes,  
__You make me smile a thousand smiles.  
__But I'm a tin man with broken parts,  
__Too much time alone,  
__So many broken hearts.  
__Yet all I want right now  
__Is to dream about a sunset with you.  
__You say you're still searchin' for a clear sky  
__And I've been known to travel,  
__But I'll adore you as best I can  
__'Cause I know I could spend my whole life  
__Just holdin' onto your hand.  
__Just holdin' onto your hand..._

_There's no going back;  
__Once you've fallen into the abyss,  
__There is no coming back.  
__So I'll cross my heart and hope to die  
__That you're listening to me, cutie pie.  
__You're the sun that will dry up all my tears,  
__Strip away my fears.  
__And I'm just a few days old,  
__I don't know what this is,  
__But I know I could spend my whole life  
__Just holdin' onto your hand.  
__Just holdin' onto your hand..._

_And I don't think you have a clue  
__All that you've done to me.  
__I still have yet to figure that out too.  
__But all I know right now is  
__You could be my happy ending.  
__'Cause I know I could spend my whole life  
__Just holdin' onto your hand.  
__Just holdin' onto your hand...  
__Just holdin' onto your hand._

"Wow..." Laura whispered. This really _isn't_ like Carmilla's usual stuff.

"Yeah," Mitch remarked. "There's more."

Laura flipped to the next one.

**_SUNDANCE  
_**_I gave you a black canvas  
__And I sit in wonder as you paint your picture  
__Across my heart.  
__Inch by inch,  
__You make everything right.  
__And I gave you my frigid, dark world  
__And I sit in wonder as you warm it  
__With your sunlight._

_Blue colored my world  
__And all my possessions,  
__My soul,  
__And heaven.  
__I felt as if I were drowning  
__In that cerulean sea.  
__I felt my essence shrinking  
__As if death waited for me.  
__In that empty moment,  
__God had forsaken me._

_But all those tears I shed  
__Were not in vain.  
__My tears watered the ground I walked on  
__So new things could grow again._

"What're you doing?" Carmilla asked angrily, poking her head out of the recording booth and startling all three of them. Her eyes went to the notebook in Laura's hands and she raced over and snatched it from them. "Don't touch that."

"I'm sorry—"

"Were you reading all of these?" Carmilla asked shrilly.

"Carmilla, it's my fault," Mitch confessed. "I shouldn't have given it to her. Don't blame her."

Melissa's eyes went to him and she hesitated before jumping in with, "No, it was my fault. I let her see it. I'm sorry."

"All any of you are accomplishing with your little heroic acts—" she curled her fingers like air quotations as her voice grew louder. "—is proving to me that you're all imbeciles."

She stomped over to the door, grabbing an unopened water bottle on her way out.

"You want me to record, you're gonna have to book another session—_without _her!" Carmilla fumed and pointed at Laura before slamming the door behind herself.

"I _told_ her that bringing Laura along wasn't a good idea," Melissa snidely commented before exiting after her. Laura and Mitch exchanged a glance.

"You ever see Beauty and the Beast?" Mitch asked her. Laura knew what was probably coming next, but nodded still. "She's the beast."

"I got that," Laura awkwardly remarked, pressing her lips together.

"Don't get me wrong, she's a tortured musical genius," Mitch told her. "Explosive at times, but still a genius."

He paused.

"Don't let that deter you, though. That's simply a defense mechanism. One layer down, about three to go," Mitch encouraged her. "She can't help or control what you've already seen and once she comes to terms with that, it's all an easy downhill ride—not downhill as in disastrous, I mean it won't be uphill anymore."

"I'll keep that in mind," Laura promised before going. She stopped a few feet behind the limo as she heard Carmilla yelling about something to Melissa.

"Then why the _hell_ did she have my songbook?" Carmilla shouted.

"I already told you, Mitch wanted her opinion on something. He found out she was a fan and wanted her approval," Melissa lied. "Look, it's too late now. She already saw it. You don't even know how much she saw."

"I know damn well which songs she saw," Carmilla argued.

"How could you possibly know?"

"I just know," Carmilla replied.

Truth was, Laura left more of her scent on the pages on which she lingered. Carmilla knew the two songs Laura saw. In retrospect, she overreacted, but there was no going back from that now. Besides, she was giving the media something to talk about, like Melissa wanted anyway. She could see the headlines about her storming out of the studio now.

Laura came in once she was sure Carmilla was done chewing Melissa out.

"I'm sorry I freaked out on you like that," Carmilla told her stiffly as she looked out the window. "I just get really... protective of that songbook."

"I understand," Laura told her gently.

"It's just that I have a lot of personal shit in there," Carmilla forced herself to continue. "Stuff I don't want other people to see. Stuff I don't even want to see."

"Carm, I get it. It's like a diary," Laura insisted. She couldn't really be mad at the girl. She'd hate it if someone looked into her songbook she had stashed underneath her mattress at home too. She didn't even know why she thought looking into Carmilla's would be okay.

And even though Laura had seemed to have forgiven her, Carmilla couldn't forgive herself. She shouldn't have snatched the songbook, she shouldn't have shouted. Shouldn't have done any of that. It was childish and rude. She kept silent the rest of the ride to the hotel. She remained speechless as she brought Laura back to the room so she could get dressed into her own clothes and grab her camera and tripod. She even would've bade her a silent farewells, had Laura not spoken before making her departure.

"If it'd make you feel better, I'd rush home right now and get my own songbook and flash it cover to cover in front of your eyes so we're even..." Laura offered along with a shy smile. Carmilla looked up at her and watched her bottom lip tuck itself under her teeth, which chewed it nervously. She felt herself crumble.

"You'd come back just to flash me?" Carmilla teased quietly. Still, she wore no smile.

"Yeah," Laura whispered solemnly.

"Well then, cupcake... Don't think I won't take you up on that," Carmilla sighed as she looked into Laura's eyes.

"Does that mean I'll see you again?" Laura inquired carefully. Carmilla nodded with a guilty smile.

"Guess so."


	4. Breath Away - Duffy

Carmilla woke to music playing softly. The song itself was quiet and she could pick out a faint guitar as the introduction continued. She sat up and her eyes scanned the room and saw a phonograph on the table, record spinning and all.

"Carm... Are you in there?" a hauntingly familiar voice called to her through the door, rising above the music and distracting her from the record player. She stared at the door for the longest time. "_Carm?_"

The singer eyed the door as she approached it. She thought to look through the peephole to see if it really was her, but she was afraid it wouldn't be. So she simply opened the door, expecting it to be some cruel joke.

And yet, there she stood in all her ethereal glory—_Ell_.

_Child's play,  
__I was silly with your heart that day.  
__I enjoyed tearing you apart,_

"_Ell?_" Carmilla uttered weakly. She was breathless. Her knees felt as if they were ready to give way and her heart was about to explode in her chest.

_Now it's me who cries._

"It's me," she promised, a warm smile spreading on her face.

_Teenage games,  
__All I ever did was call you names.  
__I got kicks from teasing you.  
__Now it's me who cries._

She leaned in, breaking the invisible threshold contained in the doorway, and tenderly kissed her girlfriend on the cheek before slowly pulling away and returning to her territory on the other side and staying in the hallway. Carmilla savored those few scintillating seconds, until she watched the grin turn to a somber frown.

_I have such regrets;  
__It's you I can't forget..._

"What's wrong?"

_Every time I see you go by,  
__I break down and cry.  
__You're taking my breath away._

"Laura..." Ell murmured dejectedly. "Who is she?"

_And every time I see you with her,  
__Oh baby, it hurts.  
__You're taking my breath away..._

"She's just a girl I met," Carmilla answered heavily with a nod.

_Breath away..._

"_Carmilla Karnstein_..." Ell drew out her name in a scolding tone. "I _know_ you."

_Now we've grown  
__And I'm still here on my own,_

"Of course you do."

"Better than _anyone_," Ell continued. "And I know that face."

"What face? This one? Yeah—it's _my_ face," Carmilla responded in a joking manner. She sobered up when Ell didn't crack a smile.

"That's the '_I'm guilty_' face," Ell informed her. "My question to you is, what exactly are you guilty of?"

_I'll be tender with your foolish heart  
_'_Cause still it's me who cries._

Carmilla didn't answer.

"Your silence is wordless. And yet, you've told me everything I need to know," Ell told her quietly. She didn't sound angry or disappointed, but that still didn't make Carmilla feel like what she was keeping to herself was okay.

"_Ell._.."

_Now I'm old,  
__Still wish I had you to hold.  
__I don't suppose that you would  
__Come my way  
__'Cause still it's me who cries._

"Laura has a nice voice," Ell remarked hoarsely. She forced a smile and Carmilla had to tear her eyes away as her girlfriend let out a strained laugh. "That's a step up from my tone-deafness."

_I have such regrets;  
__It's you I can't forget..._

"I loved your tone-deafness," Carmilla told her sincerely. They both ignored her use of the past tense.

"You don't really mean that," Ell chuckled as she wiped her eyes and inhaled slowly and shakily. "Carmilla... I have to go."

_Every time I see you go by,  
__I break down and cry.  
__You're taking my breath away._

"Where?" Carmilla inquired. She felt a lump being to form in her throat. She even tried to swallow it, but it wouldn't budge.

"Anywhere but here," Ell whispered as years welled in her eyes. "I just have to leave."

"Why?"

"This place... It's so full of memories," Ell admitted softly. "So full of_ you_... And I need to let this place go. I need to let my past life go. I need to let_ you _go—"

_And every time I see you with her,  
__Oh baby, it hurts.  
__You're taking my breath away._

"Ell, _please_..."

_Breath away._

"It's for the best, Carm..." Ell insisted as a single tear rolled down her rosy cheek. Carmilla blinked rapidly, Ell's image swimming in her own tears. "You've fallen for another. And I cannot keep you from your happiness any longer. That would be mighty selfish of me."

_I have such regrets.  
__It's you I can't forget._

"Ell, I'm gonna wait for you," Carmilla promised her vehemently, taking her hand and breaking that unseen threshold for a second time.

_Oh every time I see you go by,  
__I break down and cry.  
__You're taking my breath away._

"And I you," Ell answered promptly, her voice cracking on the last word. She looked down at their hands and slipped hers ever so carefully from Carmilla's returning to the other side. "But in another life."

_And every time I see you with her,  
__Oh baby, it hurts.  
__You're taking my breath away..._

Carmilla locked her jaw shut as she watched her girlfriend turn around to leave—for the last time.

_Breath away,  
__Breath away,  
__Breath away._

"Goodbye, Carmilla..." Ell's voice echoed down the hall even after she was out of sight, leaving Carmilla standing alone in the doorway of her empty room.

_You take my breath away.  
__Breath away,  
__Breath away..._


	5. I Heard Love is Blind - Amy Winehouse

carmkarn: "Guess who's gonna be the guest judge on this week's "Sing Your Heart Out?" Here's a hint: her name rhymes with Smarmilla Smarnstein!"

Carmilla stared at the tweet with disgust. Who the fuck updated her twitter page anyway? Probably Melissa. Carmilla made a mental note that she'd have to get a hold of her and tell her to try harder with trying to sound like her because who could this be fooling? Carmilla didn't talk like that. Any fan would know that.

Hell, Laura knew that. Probably.

Carmilla began to wonder what she was doing at this very moment. Probably planning on watching _Sing Your Heart Out_, that's for sure. She squinted as a second realization came upon her. She never agreed to guest starring on that singing competition show.

"Carmilla!" Melissa called through the door, shattering the room's stillness. Even muffled, the publicist's voice grated on Carmilla.

"Go away..." Carmilla grumbled, though she got up from the bed and opened the door. Her publicist walked right in and began talking.

"Guess who got you a slot on _Sing Your Heart Out_?" Melissa informed her without even a simple hello.

"The same idiot who updated my twitter status?"

"It's called tweeting, honey, and yes! Me!" Melissa singsonged. "I probably should've checked with you first—"

"Probably?"

"Look, do you want it or not?"

"You mean spend my night listening to a bunch of tone-deaf idiots karaokeing to songs that make my ears plead for momentary deafness, yet have been played to death? No thank you," Carmilla grouched.

"Wow, you fit that all in one breath," Melissa remarked. "No wonder you're such a good singer."

"Flattery will get you nowhere."

"It'd be a good way to get your face out there. You know you're gonna have to start promoting your new album soon anyway," Melissa pointed out. "It's better than having to go on some talk show to sing..."

"Fine," Carmilla sighed. "But only because I don't have anything better to do."

"I knew you'd say yes," Melissa smiled. "Oh! You could sing one of your songs maybe."

"Yay," Carmilla flatly commented.

"I'll let you pick it," Melissa promised. "Now remember. They've hired you to be a cool judge. You're young and you're hip—they already have a mean one, a funny one, and an accepting one, so you don't need to fill those roles."

"So you want me to sit there and what? Stare at the Coke cup? Possibly drink out of it?"

"Do whatever you cool people do."

"Cool people do not guest judge in talent competitions."

"Of course you do," Melissa insisted. "Anyway, we have to get going—your rescheduled studio session is in an hour and tomorrow we have to fly out to start filming."

"Fuck me," Carmilla grumbled. Melissa gave her a chastising look.

"Mind your manners," she reminded her.

"Please fuck me," Carmilla shot back immediately and the woman rolled her eyes.

"Get ready, would you?" Melissa requested as she left. Carmilla rolled her eyes, but followed orders, grabbing the nearest shirt and a hat. She figured her leather pants she was wearing could stay. She met Melissa in her limo as usual and it took off as soon as her door closed.

"Now, if you see a hot boy on the show, what do you do?" Melissa asked after a while. Carmilla stared at her, wondering what the desired answer could possibly be.

"I say hello?" she guessed. Melissa made a face. "Wave?"

"I guess, if you want to be subtle. I was going to say you should flirt a little."

"But—"

"And if you see a hot girl?"

"Flirt. A _lot_," Carmilla smirked. A proud smile broke out onto her publicist's face.

"You learn fast," she nodded her approval. "And what happens when you hear someone who can't sing for their life?"

Carmilla considered her options. She can't very well say something mean—apparently that wasn't her job. And she couldn't encourage them because that'd be against her own nature, too nice, and no way would she want to positively enforce that kind of singing. _Ever_.

"Stay silent?" she wondered aloud.

"And when you're voting...?" Melissa continued.

"Isn't it just yes or no?"

"Touché," she paused. "And do you know what song you'll be performing yet?"

"Nope," Carmilla told her simply as she felt the vehicle come to a stop. She opened the door and went straight into the studio before Melissa could say anything.

"There's my favorite little rock star!" Mitch greeted her as per usual, rushing over to her. "How you doin' today, sweetie?"

"I'm great, Mitch, you?"

"Fantastic! Look, I've already got the other stuff from last time finalized and all that. Your album is coming along quite nicely," he told her brightly. "Anything else you wanna know before jumping into the box?"

"Yeah—can I record some covers?"

"Whatever you want, sweetie. I'll be out here if you need me," he reminded her as she walked into the recording booth. She have him her go-ahead and she began to sing:

_I couldn't resist her.  
__Her eyes were like yours.  
__Her hair was exactly the shade of brown._

"What's this one?" Melissa asked as she came in. Mitch turned, masked his disdain, and shrugged.

_She's just not as tall,  
__But I couldn't tell.  
__It was dark and I was lying down._

"It's a cover, but I don't know what it's called," he admitted. Melissa nodded, watching Carmilla through the glass.

_You are everything_—_  
__She means nothing to me.  
__I can't even remember her name._

"You know you really ruined a good thing for her," Mitch finally said to Melissa. She glared at him.

_Why're you so upset?  
__Baby, you weren't there,  
__And I was thinking of you when I came..._

"I did? Weren't you the idiot who handed her songbook over to a fan? That Laurie girl could've ruined her!"

_What do you expect?  
__You left me here alone...  
__Don't overreact—  
__I pretended she was you._

"Laura," Mitch corrected her. "Her name is Laura. And I wasn't trying to separate them like you are. I was simply trying to give her a deeper understanding—"

_You wouldn't want me  
__To be lonely.  
__How can I put it  
__So you understand?_

"A deeper understanding means having dirt. Carmilla is on the rise right now and she can't afford any risks right now."

_I didn't let her hold my hand._

"Why don't you just let them be? Hollywood loves a good love story," Mitch reasoned.

_But she looked like you;_

"And then they'll chew her up and spit her out when it fails," Melissa argued. "I'm just trying to protect her from the machine, Mitch. You know how cruel it can be. Besides—she's still clinging to Ell like there's no tomorrow. She's not ready for anything with anyone yet."

_I guess she looked like you._

"She's just scared," Mitch shook his head in disagreement. "Which is understandable. She's a lovesick teenager who just had her girlfriend ripped away from her."

_No, she wasn't you,  
__But you can still trust me;_

"All the more reason to keep her single."

_This ain't infidelity._

Mitch gritted his teeth and kept himself from saying anything else.

_It's not cheating;  
__You were on my mind._

"Love is a risk. It'll always be that way," Mitch started again. "Laura was good for Carmilla. You can't deny that. The proof is all here—"

"What proof?"

_Yes, she looked like you,_

"Her songs! Her outlook on life! Her entire disposition! For God's sake, woman—"

"It's a phase!" Melissa disagreed. "It's a little crush. It's a sign of moving on, but she's still not ready. It's only been four months."

_But I heard love is  
__Blind_...

"You're not the judge of that. She is. So just let her be," Mitch told her firmly just as the door to the booth opened.

"You guys okay out here?" Carmilla asked. The two turned to look at her before exchanging a glance.

"Yeah," Mitch nodded.

"Yes," Melissa agreed. "We're fine. Right, Mitch?"

"That's what I just said..." he said through a fake smile.

"Just checking," Carmilla assured them with a suspicious glance before secluding herself in the room once again.

"We're not talking about this," Melissa told him in a low voice.

"Because I'm right," he shot back evenly. He saw her jaw flex and grinned with satisfaction. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a very important call I need to make."


	6. Let Me Love You - Ne-Yo

"I_ see your true colors, shining through_..."

Carmilla yawned, but maintained self control in not hitting her buzzer. Her eyes grew heavy with boredom. This had to have been the blandest performance she'd ever seen.

"_I see your true colors, and that's why I love you_—"

"Okay, that's enough. Please stop," the vampire heard herself say. The person hung her head and trudged off without another word as another took her place and began to sing. Carmilla could already tell this one would suck too, but she gave her a chance anyway.

"_I hope... life treats you kind. And I hope... you have all you've dreamed of! And I wish you joy and happiness. But above all this, I wish you love.._."

The single dramatic thump of the bass.

"_And I... will—_"

Carmilla slammed her hand on the buzzer, signaling an immediate no. She felt impatient with the girl on stage. She didn't even start in the right key and she'd somehow managed to shift between two or three others. The amount of annoyance Carmilla was experiencing was unreal. Why the hell would anyone let her continue for so long? Why the hell would anyone even let her on stage?

The girl stopped and Carmilla's ears thanked her.

"Was I that good?" she asked. Carmilla studied her and was disturbed to find that she seemed to be sincere in her inquiry.

"Were you that good?" the 'mean' judge, Lucas, scoffed and chuckled for a moment before clearing his throat and trying to decide on what to say. "Well. Carmilla, darling, you hit your buzzer first. What do you say to that?"

Carmilla squinted at the girl and leaned into her microphone saying, "Define '_good._'"

She heard laughter ripple through the audience. She'd been doing this all night—completely disregarding Melissa's requests to just "sit tight and be cool."

"My mother says I'm a good singer," the girl told them all and Carmilla rolled her eyes and sighed heavily into the microphone.

"Well, I'm afraid your mother's lying to you," Carmilla promptly remarked.

A snicker from Lucas.

"I think you just need some training," the nicer judge told her gently. Her three companions, including Carmilla, turned in their seats to stare at her.

"Did you hear people clapping?" the funny one asked. "It was because it was _over_."

Carmilla snorted and sat back in her chair, covering her mouth. She looked down at the table in front of her shaking her head, but when she looked back up, she found that the girl was in fact, Ell.

"It seems to be fairly obvious, but... What's the consensus? Carmilla?"

"Uh..." she mumbled into the mic. It was dead silent on the judges' panel and dead silent in the audience.

"Carmilla... We need an answer."

"Uh... No," she responded, trying to shake off her surprise.

"Mikayla?"

"I'm sorry, it's a no..."

"Jacob?"

"And I... will always say no," he sang to the tune of the same song.

"And it's a no from me. But thank you for coming."

The girl walked off stage and Carmilla spun around in her chair, doing a full 360-rotation, simply for fun, and strangely not as bothered by Ell's appearance as she thought she'd be.

"I think I just felt Whitney turn over in the grave," the Lucas muttered as the next one took the stage. Mikayla began the usual greetings for the next contestant.

"Hey, sweetie, what's your name?"

"Laura."

No one had ever whipped around in a chair as fast as Carmilla did in that moment—she nearly fell out of it in the process as she turned to face Laura Hollis.

"And how old are you, Laura?" Mikayla inquired.

"I am nineteen."

"And what will you be singing for us tonight?"

"I am going to be singing Ne-Yo's 'Let Me Love You.'"

"Good luck!" the judge nodded at her expectantly.

_Much as you blame yourself,  
__You can't be blamed for the way that you feel..._

The lights went off on the first note with the exception of a spotlight that shone down on Laura, illuminating her figure as if she were an angel that'd descended solely to sing. Carmilla couldn't even see the judges next to her.

_Girl, let me love you,  
__And I will love you  
__Until you learn  
__To love yourself.  
__Girl, let me love you.  
__I know your trouble,  
__Don't be afraid.  
__Girl, let me help._

_Girl, let me love you,  
__And I will love you  
__Until you learn  
__To love yourself.  
__Girl, let me love you—_

"Eh, wake up, would ya?" Jacob hissed as he elbowed Carmilla. She snapped herself awake and groaned upon finding that she'd been asleep.

_"So don't be afraid to let them show, your true colors..._"

"How long was I out?"

"Maybe a minute?" Jacob answered truthfully.

"_Are beautiful, like a rainbow._.." he finished.

"Well. That performance wasn't beautiful like a rainbow. That song just doesn't suit you. Bad choice," Lucas told him. "Mikayla?"

"You hit every note," she encouraged him.

"Jacob?" Lucas raised an eyebrow at him.

"I'll tell ya what: there ain't a pot gold at the end of this rainbow."

"Carmilla?"

"Have you ever heard her song 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun?'" Carmilla asked the boy and he nodded. "Well, that performance wasn't fun."

She heard Lucas snicker.

"At least not for me. I'm sorry."

The boy nodded and, after hearing the other judges reject him in various ways, made his way off stage as Carmilla watched a man flag her down and motion for her to come see him. She stood up and got down from the judges table as she was beckoned.

"That was the last one for tonight. You ready for your own performance?"

"Sure," she answered. Truth was, she still hadn't picked a song.

"Great. Just go through that door—" he pointed. "And your outfit is laid out for you as per your manager's request."

"Great. Thanks," she smiled at him before disappearing into the room. She studied the clothes laid out before her, impressed with the planning. "Rolling Stones, hm? Cool."

She took her shirt off and slipped the new one on, but left everything else. She didn't feel like changing into something new just for a three-minute number.

Just as she was walking out the door, she caught a whiff of a familiar scent and stopped dead in her tracks.

_Laura_.

And yet, she couldn't pick the smell up. But she swore she'd smelled it. She knew that scent anywhere. She looked around and shrugged before she continued toward the stage entrance.

There it was again.

And again she stopped, trying to pinpoint the source of the smell. But no one in the meany vicinity smelled anything like Laura.

And that's when it hit her.

_She_ was the source. _She_ smelled like Laura. The girl had worn this shirt a while ago and her scent clung to the fabric.

Carmilla had to distract herself and she found the perfect thing: the food table. She grabbed a little something and wolfed it down.

"You ready?"

The man's voice interrupted her train of thought even further and she nodded, grabbing her guitar and heading out onto the stage.

_Maybe next time, my love,  
__We'll meet up again and I'll say hi.  
__'Cause everything went so fast I  
__Never had the chance to say goodbye..._

Carmilla launched into the song without a care in the world, capturing the audience's full attention. Her voice rang out through the speakers as she carried on her little tune. And when she finished, she received a standing ovation.

"I'd give it a ten!" Jacob declared into his mic.

"So would I," Mikayla immediately agreed, but Lucas rolled his eyes.

"That doesn't mean much coming from you," he joked. The two of them then launched into a friendly argument before being told the filming was done for that episode.

"Carmilla, could you come here for a sec?" a cameraman called to her and she went over to him. "Alright, you see that food table over there? I want to get some footage of you taking something from it."

"I just took something from it like two minutes ago," she protested. "Before my performance."

"Well, you're not gonna eat it. Just grab it and when this kid from the last act comes by, you're gonna smack him with it."

"Why would I do that?" she asked with disinterest.

"Because that's who you are," he told her. "You're sassy. It's all in good fun. I promise. And it'll add a little comedy."

"Ambushing someone on national television is comedic?"

"Yeah. Just go in for a hug and hit him with it. He'll never see it coming."

"But—"

"And were filming!" the cameraman told her as he began recording. She eyed the cupcake in her hand and then the boy.

"Hey, you!" she called to him and he looked up before coming over to her. "I didn't mean what I said earlier. You have a wonderful voice and I see you going far with this, kid. Don't give up. Song choice ain't everything."

"Thank you," he replied gratefully.

"Hug it out?" Carmilla offered with a glance at the camera as the boy nodded. She smiled angelically as they went in for a hug.

The cameraman was surprised when the boy pulled away from the hug without a single bit of frosting on him. And when the cameraman looked to Carmilla, he saw that the cupcake had disappeared from her hand. Where had it gone?

Before it could even register, the boy seemed to hesitate for a second before he smushed Carmilla in the face with the cupcake, taking extra care to wipe it across her before making a getaway.

She then took her finger and wiped a chunk of the icing off and ate it.

"Hm," she remarked. "Tastes like autonomy."

The cameraman stopped recording and looked at her with frustration.

"That's not what was supposed to happen."

"Oh, no?" she feigned innocence. "Well, you know what else I am? You know, other than being 'sassy'... I'm a _rule-breaker_. So next time you want me to do something stupid, let me act on my own—it's bound to happen eventually anyway."

"Carmilla! That was a wonderful performance!" Melissa complimented her proudly. "Best one yet!"

"You say that after every—"

"Off we go! You need to rest," Melissa told her as she shooed her along.

"But I promised to—"

"Uh-uh. You're due at the hotel."

Carmilla grumbled, but went with her anyway. She didn't need to be here any longer than she had to be. If anything, it was a relief to know she wouldn't have anything else to do for the day. She was always going somewhere, it seemed. Sometimes she liked to have her own down time. It gave her time to think. Granted, it was about things she didn't necessarily want to think about, but it was down time all the same. She pulled out her earbuds and plugged them into her phone, listening to the music she had on there. It was funny—there was a time she loved to listen to music. All those sappy love songs and whatnot. But that died the day Ell did.

So why and how had it suddenly resurrected itself?

She knew why.

But that was one of those things she didn't want to think about.


	7. Fallin' For You - Colbie Caillat

"Ms. Karnstein! There is an interviewer waiting in your room," a man informed her nervously. Carmilla blinked in response. "I couldn't get her to go away. She insisted that Melissa had invited her to interview you for a promotional inside look at your new album."

"Of _course_ Melissa would fucking do that," Carmilla muttered as she took the beverage and trudged over to the elevator. "That's why she was rushing me here. She always springs this shit on me. She _knows_ I'll say no."

Carmilla skipped the elevator immediately and went straight to the stairwell, knowing her own legs would carry her faster than the box suspended by a cord would.

She went right over to her room and swiped her key card. The light above the door handle blinked green, signaling her the go-ahead and she she pushed the door open and slammed it closed upon entering.

Upon her bed sat a petite girl with a familiar face. The vampire suppressed any reaction—good or bad. In truth, she wanted to charge over to her and kiss her. Never in her life had she ever been so excited to see a person.

"What're you doing here?" she asked neutrally, running her fingers through her hair. Seeing Laura sitting on her best really threw her and she looked away for a moment as she tried to collect herself.

"I got you something," Laura told her as she held out a small rectangular object covered in wrapping paper. Carmilla maintained her self control and walked over like a normal human being. Upon closer inspection, the paper had pictures of various rap artists. Laura laughed nervously and explained, "Get it? It's_ rapping_ paper."

Carmilla snorted at the comment and tore the paper off gingerly to reveal a composition notebook with loopy handwriting on the front:

_**MY SONGS**_

"Laura, I'm not gonna read your songs," Carmilla told her, instantly giving the book back. "I don't need to 'get even' with you. I overreacted. Nothing was even your fault. I know you said it was okay, but it was still shitty of me. And I'd like to make it up to you, if you'll let me."

"If you must," Laura grinned.

"Great," Camilla nodded and gave her a genuine smile. "Pick you place."

After about a fifteen minute car ride, Carmilla found herself and Laura standing before a skating rink. She blew out a sigh as she followed Laura inside.

She insisted on paying for the skates and the session—especially since it was extra because the rink was technically closed. They then laced their skates up and went to the rink.

"This isn't so bad," Carmilla remarked as they walked.

"We're not on the ice yet," Laura responded.

"You skate?" Carmilla asked her and Laura nodded.

"A little. I'm not like, professional, but I know what I'm doing. Can you skate?" Laura asked as she stepped out onto the ice. She sounded nervous. "I probably should've asked before..."

"Guess we're gonna find out," Carmilla shrugged, still following Laura. She took in a deep breath and watched Laura before losing her balance and falling to the ice.

"Wow, that was graceful..." Laura commented before she could stop it. "Sorry... Um... Anyway, when you get up, you're going to want be on one knee, kind of like the traditional proposal stance."

Laura checked on her before Carmilla tried it and got back on her feet. Her eyes seemed to be glued to her as Carmilla watched them look her up and down; not just once, but a few times.

"Okay, so what you're going to want to do is maintain balance and posture... Those are your priorities because those are _crucial_ to staying upright and not, you know, going horizontal."

"Maybe I _like_ going horizontal," Carmilla flirted. And as difficult as it was to be smooth while awkwardly clinging onto the rink wall for dear life, Carmilla managed to make it work. Laura cleared her throat and focused on what she was saying instead.

"Okay, so I'm going to assume your basic walking skills are intact," Laura began.

"Oh, I wouldn't be so confident about that," Carmilla replied as her feet wobbled in protest underneath her.

"Just try to take a step," Laura told her gently watching Carmilla do as she was asked. Carmilla took a few shaky but successful steps and Laura skated backward, away from her. "Good. And can I assume that you know how riding a scooter works?"

"On _non_-icy ground."

"Use your toe pick—the little spiky thingies on your blade," Laura instructed. "It's like riding a scooter."

Carmilla used her toe pick as Laura had told her to and did remarkable well. Laura skated backward, watching Carmilla as she came forward.

"You're doing great," Laura offered and Carmilla smiled at the ice under her feet before tripping and falling again.

"Spoke too soon, cupcake."

"Okay. Let's try something else," Laura murmured as she skated over to Carmilla and helped her up. "Hold my hand."

Carmilla stared at Laura before looking down at their already interlaced fingers.

"Right..." Laura breathed. She faced forward and chastised herself as she began to carefully tow Carmilla along. She seems to be more steady with Laura by her side, which was odd because the wall was stationary and Laura was not.

Perhaps it was purely motivation—if they both stayed upright, they could continue to hold hands and skate side by side.

Like a couple.

"Whee..." Carmilla remarked softly and Laura laughed. They skated around the rink for a few laps and Carmilla got increasingly steady. Laura glanced down at her feet every once in a while, checking them. And each time, they seemed to be in perfect position.

Too perfect.

Right when she opened her mouth to make a comment, Carmilla's steady, confident foot slid out from under her and hit Laura's, cocking it at a strange angle and taking them both down.

Carmilla slid perfectly—perfectly—between Laura's feet as the girl fell. Laura stopped her fall with her hands, saving her from the impact, but not the awkward position in which she and Carmilla ended up. Had it been public, it would've been inevitably incriminating.

Carmilla felt Laura's body weight on her and the body heat emanating from her. She felt dizzy. Granted, she'd fallen on the ice a little hard. But this wasn't that kind of dizzy. She became aware of how Laura's hips felt as they sat upon hers and how Laura's legs felt around her body. She looked up at her mouth to find her lips slightly parted as she panted delicately. Carmilla was breathless and Laura stunned.

The contrast between the pure white ice and singer's dark hair was astounding and paired with her sculptured beauty, was ravishing. Laura had no idea how long they stayed like that, but she did know that if they remained like that she'd lose it.

She snapped back to reality and scrambled to get off Carmilla, which turned out to only worsen the situation—despite her own experience, she kept slipping and just couldn't get sturdy enough to get up.

Carmilla smirked and used her hands to pull herself out from under Laura and she got up without as much struggle. She went over to Laura and held out a helping hand.

"Thanks," Laura mumbled as she used Carmilla to pull herself back up—and pull herself together in the process.

"Sorry about that," Carmilla apologized. "Looks like my clumsiness rubbed off on you."

"No biggie," Laura assured her as she caught her breath. She paused and then looked Carmilla in the eyes. "You know, actually it _is_ a biggie. I was just about to comment on that. You're way too good at skating—"

Carmilla opened her mouth to speak, a grin playing on the corners of her mouth.

"—too much to even blame it on beginner's luck, so don't you _dare_ try that on me, Carmilla Karnstein!" Laura finished with a friendly scolding tone. Carmilla closed her mouth and wore her signature smirk, telling Laura everything she needed to know. "You sly dog!"

"_Woof_," Carmilla yipped before skating off without the slightest hesitation.

As a centuries old vampire, there wasn't much she didn't know how to do—even if her knowledge was basic. Laura shook her head with a smile before skating after her, catching up within a few seconds.

"What else do you have hiding up that sleeve of yours?" Laura asked, breathless once again.

"I can rollerblade too," Carmilla joked.

"You _fell_ on this _solid_ ice without a complaint," Laura commented. "_Twice_._ And_ you went through a painful skating lesson with me, pretending to barely even be able to keep yourself upright the entire time."

"Yeah?"

"You didn't even have to do all that—you could've just shown off."

"I could've, but I saved that for the finale," Carmillaexplained.

"What was the point of all that then?"

"I made you fall for me, didn't I?" Carmilla grinned slyly and sped up, leaving Laura behind. The determined human went after her, even passing her and stopped abruptly in front of her and leaned her arm against the wall of the rink so Carmilla couldn't pass.

The vampire stopped quick, resulting in a spray of ice shavings and a sharp inhale on her part as she looked at Laura with amusement. Laura had stopped her to make a witty remark, but she'd lost it somewhere between the competitive tension and Carmilla's lips.

"Outta my way, cupcake."

"Make me," Laura teased, though it came out a little more intensely than she'd intended.

Carmilla shrugged and took her hand from the wall, spun her around, and skated on by with her Carmilla smile.

Laura caught up to her once again and said, "That was smooth. But you're not going to get rid of me that easily."

"Who said I wanna get rid of you?" Carmilla asked, taking Laura's hand again. "I kinda liked it when we did this."

"I liked that too," Laura admitted shyly as they began another lap around the rink. Her heart fluttered.

"Maybe we can—"

"_Carmilla!_" Melissa's shrill voice reverberated around the room. "_What_ are you doing?"

"Swimming," Carmilla responded, never slowing her pace or releasing Laura's hand.

"Get off the ice _now_," Melissa commanded, pointing to the ground in front of her.

"Mm... I don't think so," Carmilla answered.

"You're going to hurt yourself and you can't afford that right now."

"Am I?" Carmilla asked, letting go of Laura's hand and turning so she skated backward. She smirked at Melissa as she glided by, gaining speed with every movement.

"Do you think this is funny?" Melissa shrieked.

"_Hilarious_," Carmilla replied and Laura laughed. She only stopped when she saw the dirty look she was getting from Melissa.

"Carmilla—"

"_Melissa_," Carmilla mimicked her tone.

"Cut that out and get over here," Melissa commanded again.

"How'd you find us?" Carmilla inquired curiously. If she felt irritated, she didn't show it.

"Oh you know, this was the only place being puppy-guarded by paparazzi," Melissa retorted with frustration.

"Ah. You're a natural-born detective. I always liked that about you," Carmilla nodded at her.

"Well, maybe you'll listen to me when you know why I'm here," Melissa tried again as she held up a newspaper.

"Yeah, why _are_ you here?" Carmilla asked.

"Because you lied when you told me that you weren't sleeping with Lauren here," Melissa answered. Completely caught off-guard, Carmilla stumbled backwards and fell onto the ice and slid a few inches.

"What?" she asked stiffly.

"Hey, that's what the papers say," Melissa shrugged. "You two were caught wearing the same shirt. That's a coupley thing."

"Okay, wait just a minute—"

"And now you're paying for admission—just the two of you, might I add—to a place that's supposed to be closed," Melissa finished. "Tell me, how does that look?"

Carmilla got up and walked—she didn't skate, she _walked_—across the ice over to her publicist.

"And only four months after Ell..." she tsked. "You sure bounce back quick."

Laura witnessed Carmilla's head droop and she felt a stabbing pain in her chest. She looked crestfallen.

"Come, Carmilla. We should go."

"One second," Carmilla told her as she finally picked her head up. She turned and skated over to Laura, taking her by the hands and pulling her close. She glanced at Melissa before leaning in and whispering something to her. Once she was finished, she asked, "Got it?"

Laura nodded and a small smile crept onto Carmilla's face. Then the both of them skated over to Melissa—Laura needed a ride back anyway.

"You need to keep it in your pants," Melissa murmured to her, out of Laura's earshot. Carmilla raised a hand, wiggled her fingers, and then dramatically put it in her pants pocket.

"It was never out," Carmilla retorted at a normal volume. "It's _speculation_."

"Well, it doesn't make you look good," Melissa responded, still keeping her voice down.

"What do you care anyway?"

"I'm just trying to protect you."

"From what? A bad rep? I have that already, apparently."

"What do you mean?"

"Some guy on _Sing Your Heart Out_ wanted me to smear this guy with frosting. Does that sound like a good rep to you?"

"Well, you could always go the cookie-cutter pop star way..."

"I already said no to that."

"Then that's your problem. But if I can stop something else from coming up about you, you damn well better expect I will."

Carmilla glanced at Laura, who seemed oblivious to their conversation, and lowered her voice.

"_Laura_ isn't bad rep," Carmilla told her.

"Yes she is," Melissa hissed. "You picked her up after one night—there's no doubting that. What does that say about you?"

"I'm pretty good," Carmilla chuckled.

"It says you'll go out with any old fan that happens to come your way," Melissa whispered.

"And that's a bad thing?" Carmilla asked softly. "At least I interact with them. That's more than you can say for other people."

Melissa didn't say anything, yet Carmilla didn't feel as if she'd won. Her phone vibrated suddenly, distracting her from the moment and she checked it.

**Laura: **_Heyyyy (;_

**Carmilla: **_hey._

**Carmilla: **_sorry about hellissa_

**Laura: **_Lol it's ok I see where she's coming from_

**Carmilla: **_i got a favor to ask of you._

**Laura: **_What is it_

**Carmilla: **_i'll ask you later._

Carmilla saw Laura hesitate with her thumbs hovering over the keyboard before replying.

**Laura: **_Does that imply there will be a later_

**Carmilla: **_guess so._


	8. What the Hell - Avril Lavigne

"Carm, I'm not supposed to be here," Laura reminded her with a giddy voice.

"Well, I _want_ you here," Carmilla told her. "And I want to do this."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure."

"Okay then, here we go!" Laura declared as she turned the camera on and joined Carmilla on the bed. She waved at the lens and began with, "Greetings, viewers! I am back with Carmilla Karnstein—don't worry. I didn't have to go through security this time."

"No, don't say that. They're gonna think my security is inadequate," Carmilla whispered.

"Okay, I'll cut it. No worries," Laura promised before starting over. "Greetings, viewers! I am here with Carmilla Karnstein—how are you today, Carmilla?"

"Pretty good, cupcake... And yourself?"

"Good," Laura told her brilliantly, taking in every inch of her face.

"Good," Carmilla nodded, holding Laura's stare. The YouTuber looked back at the camera nervously.

"Um, anyway... Carmilla here has been working so hard on her new album—do you know what it'll be called?"

"No, actually..."

"Want me to cut this too?" Laura giggled. "This is horrible—we're not going to have _any_ good footage."

"Because I'm here."

"No..." Laura chuckled again. "Whew! Okay! Let's try this again—"

"Good luck," Carmilla scoffed as she crossed her arms and caused another fit of laughter in Laura.

"Good news, everyone!" Laura exclaimed, determined to get through it. "Carmilla has a little announcement to make. Carmilla?"

The darker-haired girl sat inspecting her nails and looked up only at the mention of her name.

"Oh, are we filming right now?" she teased. The two of them spent a few more seconds laughing before she was able to get serious enough to make the announcement. She cleared her throat and looked directly at the camera lens. "So, guys, with the anticipation of my new album—it's gonna come out a little sooner than planned because Mitch is working his ass off on this for me—thank you, Mitch—I'd like to arrange and cordially invite you to an informal meet and greet—"

"So you don't have to fight through a hoard of big scary brutes like I did," Laura put in and Carmilla nodded in agreement.

"Right. Please don't do that," she smiled as she turned to the camera. "But yes. I'd love to meet some of you guys, so stop by. We will not be posting the details on my website—I repeat, _not_ posting them on my website—but Laura here will put any necessary details in the description below and I hope to see you then."

She glanced over at Laura, who simply grinned at her dumbly.

"Was that good?"

"Yeah, that was good," Laura told her as her gaze lingered for a little longer than it should. She cleared her throat and faced the camera once again. "Okay, so I didn't know we were doing something like this today, so I actually don't have any questions prepared."

"It's okay, just tell them about your day, then. That's what you normally do, right?" Carmilla suggested and Laura nodded.

"Hm... My day... What'd I do today..." Laura murmured as she thought.

"Yeah, what _did_ you do today?" Carmilla teased, reminding her.

"Oh yeah! I went skating!" Laura exclaimed with an ecstatic smile.

"And how was skating?"

"Cool," Laura answered sincerely, her smile never wavering. They took a moment before they realized her unintentional pun and started to giggle again.

"What is _with _you today?" Carmilla asked.

"_Me!?" _Laura responded shrilly through her laughter. "You're cracking jokes left and right and _trying_ to make me mess up!"

Truth was that Laura was completely giddy from her skating session with Carmilla. It was practically a date, right? Maybe? Either way, she felt high.

"We're never going to get through this, are we?" Laura commented and Carmilla shrugged. "You go."

"Okay, well, Laura and I went skating today. I had some free time and I figured—"

"_Figured_," Laura chuckled at the unintentional pun. Carmilla smiled and shook her head, but managed to keep going with her story.

"_Figured_ I'd go do something I wanted to do. Which was skate," Carmilla nodded definitively.

"With me?" Laura sincerely wondered aloud. Oops. Too late to take it back now.

"With you," Carmilla confirmed.

Laura beamed at Carmilla before she managed to get herself together and ask, "So anyway, do you have any other announcements to make...?"

Carmilla smirked and nodded as she spun to look at the camera, feeling a bubbling sense of happiness as she imagined her fans' reactions to the next thing she was about to say.

"Yes. I will be in the lounge of the Come On Inn off... Whatever street this is," Carmilla told the lens. "Laura will put all that stuff down below."

She paused and took a second to maintain composure at the wording of her statement.

"I'll be here—not only for the meet and greet, but also to possibly sing a small—"

"Very small," Laura piped in as she held her index finger about a centimeter above her thumb to emphasize the point.

"Set," Carmilla finished with a nod.

"Yep!" Laura nodded enthusiastically. "So if you wanna come out and support Carmilla—_please_—come to her show!"

•••

"Hey!" Carmilla greeted Laura as she jogged over to her. The singer looked around her and saw a herd of people approaching. "Watch out—you may get trampled."

"Actually, I'm first in line," Laura admitted sheepishly.

"That's where you've been all day? Waiting outside to be the first in?" Carmilla chuckled and Laura nodded. "Well. I'm gonna have to fix that."

Carmilla went into a bag next to her and took out a small card and a lanyard as well as a sharpie. She took the cap off the marker with her teeth and began writing something on the card.

Laura tried not to gawk too much at the black cap between Carmilla's lush pink lips, but it was right there in her field of vision. She looked away only when Carmilla raised her eyes to meet Laura's and she capped the marker.

"It's an all-access pass," Carmilla explained as she glanced at Melissa.

The publicist was pissed off at her for arranging this even without her clearance, but she'd showed up anyway to make sure everything went smoothly.

"And um... With my signature there, it never expires, so... You know. You can visit me—or not. It's completely up to your own discretion."

"I will," Laura promised she watched Carmilla's eyes shift to the person behind her. "I should... Probably go now, huh?"

Carmilla grinned and nodded.

"Yeah. Don't be a Mufasa."

"I won't," Laura promised as she moved so the next person could get to Carmilla.

"You can sit with me if you want. It's kinda intimidating being behind this table by myself."

Laura shrugged and went to sit next to Carmilla as she greeted the next person.

"Hi, I'm Carmilla—"

"I know who you are," the girl exclaimed excitedly. She set down an earlier album and asked, "Can you sign this?"

"Sure can, cupcake..." Carmilla nodded as she uncapped the sharpie. Laura felt a tinge of jealousy and it took her by surprise as she eyed the singer to her right. "What's your name?"

"Hannah."

"Okay..." Carmilla murmured as she scribbled something quick. "There ya go."

"Thank you so much!"

"It was a pleasure meeting you," Carmilla smiled after her before looking upon the next person.

"Hi, I'm Carmilla," she introduced herself to him.

"Danny," he answered.

"Well, _Danny_..."

Laura watched Carmilla's eyes sweep over him and she felt herself grow hot as Carmilla's eyes went back up to meet his.

"You have beautiful eyes," Carmilla complimented him.

"Thanks," he replied. She could see he was trying to contain himself and be cool.

"Do you have anything for me to sign?" she inquired.

"Can you sign my chest?" he asked.

"Absolutely not," Melissa told her firmly.

"Sure, cutie..." Carmilla told him, completely disregarding Melissa's orders. "Take off your shirt."

Danny gladly obliged and that was when Laura and Melissa's eyes met. It seemed they both had a common goal.

Carmilla signed quickly and Danny thanked her before disappearing into the crowd just as the next person came up.

"Hey, I know you," Carmilla instantly recognized him. "You're Roman."

"I am."

"You want the money I owe you?" she guessed. Laura watched her leaned forward and smile angelically up at him.

"No, just to say hi. Same as everyone else," he admitted.

"I'd be glad to sign something," Carmilla responded. Her eyes flickered to his jeans. "You know, as long as it's not an _appendage_ of some sort..."

"I'm perfectly happy with this exchange here," he assured her. She shrugged and bid him farewell and a girl stepped up. She heard Laura huff, albeit a little louder than she'd intended—but then again she also wanted Carmilla to feel her frustration—and she looked over at her.

"Everything okay, cupcake?"

"Just _dandy_," Laura forced a smile as the girl went to Carmilla to ask her to sign—

Her_ chest!?_

"Um... Why not?" Carmilla remarked liberally, keeping her eyes on Melissa the entire time. She enthusiastically signed the girl's chest and sent her on her way.

This was going to be a long day for Laura.

_"Laura,"_ Melissa called her over finally, resigning her tendency to purposely call her the wrong name. Laura sprung up and gladly went over to her. "It seems we both want to stop this... Boob-signing fest. I find it rather... Inappropriate and—"

"_Taboob?_" Laura offered with a chuckle. Melissa even crack a smile; Laura regained composure quickly and cleared her throat before nodding seriously at her. "Yes, ma'am."

"Why don't we just get her little show going?"

"That'd be perfect, but they're not ready yet—"

"Well, they're going to be. They should've been more prepared," Melissa commented as she walked away to find someone to talk to about the show.

When she was finished with the girl, Carmilla turned to face a miffed Laura. She grinned angelically at her.

"Heya, cupc—"

"Don't call me that," Laura told her a little sharper than she'd intended. Carmilla's face fell and Laura instantly regretted it.

"Did I do something?" Carmilla asked her.

"No, well you only_ signed a girl's boobs_," Laura retorted.

"It was all in good fun," Carmilla told her.

"Don't try to rationalize your behavior—it's not going to work on me. You can't just... Just..."

Carmilla watched as Laura became tongue-tied and incomprehensible. Her arms were gesticulating as she tried to construct coherent sentences and it was only then that it dawned on Carmilla.

"Are you..._ jealous,_ princess?" she asked with a triumphant looking smirk. Laura brought her eyes up to Carmilla's.

"W-What? No! No. Of course not," she sputtered, dropping her hands immediately. "I'm just... I think that you should... I mean, I want you to..."

"Sign your chest?" Carmilla teased.

"No, I'm good... I'm good," Laura assured her. "Really. I don't need that. I just um..."

"Carmilla, you're wanted in the lounge," a man informed her and she nodded at him.

"I'm there," she told him. She turned to Laura. "I'll see you later?"

The girl nodded and watched Carmilla dash off to take her place on the platform.

"_Me—jealous_," she scoffed, scuffing her shoe on the carpet. "Now _there's_ an idea."


	9. Jealous - Nick Jonas

**CARMILLA _CRASS_-STEIN LASHES OUT: The starlet's latest rebellious scandal! Where is her management? Her mother? Has she gone too far? (_More_)**

_Yesterday, Saturday afternoon, eighteen-year-old Carmilla Karnstein (known for her album, Fall Apart), released a video on YouTube featuring this crazed fan, and some exciting news—she was going to hold a meet and greet as well as a private concert—any fanatic's fantasy! The catch: her manager wasn't invited!_

_An insider tells us that she deliberately snubbed her manager as well as the rest of her entourage._

_The young singer then took to flirting without cessation and even signing, well, take a look at the photos below and see for yourself:_

Carmilla stopped scrolling and closed her laptop. This was ridiculous. As true as the article was, it was still ridiculous.

"Keep going. I want you to see the entire thing," Melissa told her. Carmilla sighed, but did as she was told.

_She signed not one, not two, but seven chests—four of which were girls'—before she was asked to take the stage. (On her rep's command, not her own—looks like she still needs some managing.)_

_Has the starlet gotten out of control? Is she merely looking for a maternal figure after declaring herself estranged from her own mother? Or is she simply exploring her sexuality?_

_When she finally took the stage (ten minutes after the expected time) she just about put on a nice karaoke show for those attending, holding her mic out to the fans for half the set—was she even getting paid for this? If so, half the profit should go to them._

_Is this the beginning of her downfall as a successful artist? It's a tragic pattern we've witnessed in so many young promising stars. Maybe it's time for her to take a break from her career so she can get back on her feet._

_Leave us a comment below and tell us what you think!_

"Am I allowed to leave a comment on this?" Carmilla inquired and Melissa threw her a look. She suddenly felt the need to irritate the woman standing before her as much as possible. And if acting like a ditz would do it, then that was what she was going to do.

"That wasn't the point. The point is that what you did yesterday was reckless. You could be throwing your entire career away—all for what? For boobs?"

"Okay, did you say 'for boobs' or 'four boobs,' because if you said 'for boobs,' I'd tell you that that's so worth it, but if you said 'four boobs—'"

"_Carmilla_—" Melissa spat with exasperation.

"Then I'd correct you and say it's technically eight..." Carmilla finished innocently.

"Your manager will be coming by at some point. She has a bone to pick with you."

"Hey, if she wants me to be her puppet, she ought to show her face more often," Carmilla shrugged, completely unfazed.

"Well, most of the time, you're under control. I don't know what's gotten into you lately—"

"Well, I can tell you what hasn't gotten into me lately—Laura," Carmilla laughed obnoxiously, trying to annoy her further. "I keep my promises."

"You're insane," Melissa told her. "Really. You're not supposed to be having a mental breakdown yet. You have to wait until you feel yourself spiraling into unsuccessfulness. And that shouldn't happen until you're in your late twenties, early thirties."

"It's not a breakdown, it's a breakout," Carmilla shrugged as she leaned back onto the headboard of the bed. She sprung forward and her eyes snapped open as she blurted, "That's good!"

"What is?" Melissa wondered aloud as Carmilla rushed over to the table.

"It's not a breakdown, it's a breakout... so... all together now—let 'em hear us shout!" Carmilla murmured as she wrote every word down. Melissa threw her arms up in frustration and went to make her exit. "I'm sorry, you were saying something?"

"Check yourself before you wreck yourself," Melissa told her as she left. Carmilla dropped the pen, having no intention of writing whatever crapola that would've come out had she continued. It likely would've turned into some dumb teen pop song and that was the last thing she wanted to produce at this point.

"You can come in now," Carmilla sighed and Laura walked through the connector door of the suite.

"Do you think she heard me?"

"I didn't even hear you," Carmilla admitted. "I thought maybe you left."

"You asked me to stay."

"I did," Carmilla nodded. She gestured for Laura to come over and sit with her. "So, on a scale of zero to Justin Bieber, how much did I just fuck up my career?"

"Lady GaGa," Laura answered as she joined Carmilla.

"I don't know what that is," Carmilla told her and Laura laughed.

"I don't either," she confessed. "But what I intended it to mean is that you're creating a buzz. People are talking about you."

"So I helped it."

"Maybe. It depends on who you're attracting."

"And who am I attracting?" Carmilla asked as she caught Laura's gaze. She watched Laura lock her jaw in place and she allowed a small victorious smile to cross her face as she raised an eyebrow. "Am I doing well?"

"Signing girls' chests isn't the way to go," Laura remarked tightly.

"Ah, so I was right. You were jealous," Carmilla nodded.

"I was _not_ jealous," Laura insisted as she crossed her arms over her chest. "I was just concerned—"

"About what?" Carmilla demanded to know. Her shit-eating grin was too much for Laura to bear. They both knew who was right.

"You don't know where their chests have been—"

"Oh, come on..." Carmilla rolled her eyes. "Just admit that you were jealous."

"I can't because I wasn't," Laura argued.

"Yes you _were_," Carmilla answered as she pulled Laura in. "You were _so j_ealous."

"Was not."

"Was too," Carmilla chuckled.

"Was _not_."

"Was _too_."

"Was. _Not_!"

"Was. _Too!"_ Carmilla insisted. "Just admit it, cupcake."

"_Make_ me," Laura demanded and Carmilla wanted to launch herself at the girl. But she didn't.

"Fine," Carmilla responded tersely. "That first girl. _Hannah_. You were side-eyeing the shit out of her."

Laura tensed up at the mention of the girl's name and Carmilla knew she had her pegged.

"I was just watching _you_," Laura defended herself. "Nice note, by the way. 'To Hannah: Hope your day's as beautiful as you are.' _Real_ cute."

"Oh wow... The green-eyed monster is strong in this one," Carmilla teased. "I didn't even remember that I wrote that."

"Oh no?"

"Nope," Carmilla smirked. "But now that you say that, it sounds familiar..."

She savored the bitter look on Laura's sweet face.

"You know, you're _kinda_ cute when you're jealous."

"Kind of?"

"Well, I like your smile a lot more than that um..._ pouty_ thing you're doing," Carmilla teased.

"Too bad. This pouty thingy I'm doing is going to stay."

"Hm... Even if I asked you if you'd like to join some friends and me at a party?" Carmilla asked sweetly. "Because I am allowed a plus-one and after some careful consideration... I'd _love_ for that plus-one to be you. Whataya say?"

"I have plans..." Laura told her, half-trying to play it cool and half-experimenting with Carmilla's own reactions—did she also have a jealous side? And if so, could Laura tap into it as easily as she had hers?

"I didn't even tell you a day," Carmilla grinned smugly. Laura chastised herself for missing such a crucial detail, but nevertheless regathered herself and shrugged.

"I'll go," she nodded.

"It's this Saturday," Carmilla told her. "_Now _tell me if you have plans."

"No..." Laura admitted sheepishly, drawing that signature smirk out once again.

"Okay. I'll see you then."


	10. Little Lion Man - Mumford & Sons

_I'd love for that plus-one to be you._

Carmilla's delicate voice rang in Laura's head on repeat like a song you can never quit—not that you'd ever want to—and the more she heard it, the worse her crush on the singer got. _Man_, did Carmilla know how to operate.

The only thing really bothering Laura was the fact that Carmilla was taking forever to get ready. She checked the time and the clock read eight forty-five.

"Carmilla, are you almost done?" she called.

"_Laura_..." Carmilla poked her head out of the bathroom and stared Laura down. She looked ready, so Laura couldn't tell why they hadn't left yet.

Carmilla wore a see-through black top, that was out to slay and reap any girl-loving people out there, and her signature leather pants that showed off her shapely hips. Laura swore she felt her heartbeat slip into arrhythmia—at least for a moment anyway. And it almost shut her up.

_Almost_.

"Do you see this?" Carmilla asked her as she drew an imaginary circle in the air around her left eye. It was then that Laura noticed that her left eye was bare in contrast to her perfectly outlined right one. "_This_ is a masterpiece."

"Mm-hm."

"It is," Carmilla insisted. "So it takes a lot of work."

Laura looked at her with amusement and Carmilla rolled her eyes.

"What's the rush anyway?"

"No rush. We're just going to be a tad late..."

"Yeah. We're supposed to be," Carmilla told her as she disappeared back into the bathroom. "Fifteen minutes—but not really. If you arrive exactly fifteen minutes late, then people know you're purposely trying to be what is called 'fashionably late' so you have to add a margin of two or three minutes. And if you can't make it then, add six, seven, or eight. Never another multiple of five because then it looks intentional again."

"What happens to nine?"

"Too close to ten," Carmilla answered. Laura raised her eyebrows with disbelief.

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

"Well, they said the thing starts at eight forty-five," Laura reminded her. "If we leave now, we can get there for nine... Drive a little slow and it can be nine-oh-two."

"Yes, but when they say eight forty-five, they actually mean nine—that's to weed out the wannabes—so nine seventeen or later is acceptable."

"What?"

"Just trust me," Carmilla insisted, finally emerging from the bathroom. "You ready?"

"Are _you?_"

The quick remark brought a smile to Carmilla's face and she chuckled.

"I'll take that as a yes."

•••

After Laura did her sightseeing and gaping at all the fancy cars with brands she'd never even heard of, she stood before the doors that led to Carmilla's friend's 'house.' 'House' being a loose term as it seemed more like a five-star hotel.

They could hear the rhythmic thumping of the song that was currently being played and it felt as if their heartbeats synchronized with it.

"Time?" Carmilla asked.

"Nine thirty-seven," Laura reported. "Check."

"Hair?"

"Hair?" Laura echoed before meeting Carmilla's gaze. The singer shrugged and tousled Laura's hair slightly.

"Check," Carmilla smirked. "Ready?"

"I guess—"

Carmilla rang the doorbell the moment Laura's affirmation left her lips. After a moment of waiting, the giant doors swung open and welcomed them in.

"She waited exactly ten seconds. What a loser," Carmilla remarked to Laura. It took her a second to realize Carmilla was joking.

"Oh my _God!_" a blonde girl screamed as if someone had had a heart attack. Laura's eyes went to her as she came rushing over to Carmilla. "Carmilla, darling! It's _so_ good to see you."

"I—"

"And I see you brought your _girlfriend_," she went on, crouching to Laura's level and speaking slowly as if she wouldn't understand. "It. Is. So. Nice. To meet you."

"She's not my girlfriend," Carmilla nervously laughed. "She's just a friend. Who happens to be a girl—"

"Oh _stop_ it, you!" the girl squealed as she playfully pushed Carmilla's shoulder. "You're not fooling anyone. Not with a reputation like yours."

She turned to Laura, slowing her speech once again.

"You and her. Am I right?"

"No? She just told you—"

"Oh my God!" the blonde screeched once again. "He's here!"

She turned to Carmilla as if Laura didn't exist.

"My boyfriend Eric just got here. You don't mind."

"Of course not," Carmilla plastered a smile on her face as she gestured for the girl to go. The blonde flashed them both a blinding grin as she dashed off to greet the man that'd just walked in.

"Who...?" Laura couldn't even finish her question.

"That's Amber..." Carmilla rolled her eyes.

"Is she the host?"

"Unfortunately."

"I thought you said it was a friend's party."

"The term friend means anyone you've ever said hi to," Carmilla confessed. "Kinda like Facebook."

"Touché," Laura agreed. She noticed lights flashing from inside the next room and immediately knew that that was the source of the music. The doors seemed to be vibrating with the bass. Laura looked to Carmilla and she knew immediately what Laura wanted. "You wanna dance?"

Laura's question came out a bit more timidly then she'd intended, but nonetheless it remained endearing.

"Not really," Carmilla told her deadpan. Laura smiled, knowing this was an affirmative answer coming from Carmilla, and grabbed her hand to pull her toward the door.

"Oh c'mon. It'll be fun!"

Carmilla allowed Laura to drag her into the room where everyone else was dancing. She could smell the alcohol on everyone else and made a mental note to herself to not let herself get that carried away. Her phone vibrated, catching her attention, and she checked it.

**Melissa:** _Where are you? -M. Polinsky_

Carmilla rolled her eyes and went to put her phone away when another incoming message caused it to vibrate again.

**Melissa:** _You went to the party. Didn't you? -M. Polinsky_

**Carmilla:** _you know me so well._

**Melissa:** _And you brought Laura. Didn't you? -M. Polinsky_

**Carmilla:** _so, so well._

**Melissa: **_I'm telling you now that I'm not hauling your drunk asses home. -M. Polinsky_

**Carmilla:** _thank god._

**Melissa: **_I'm serious. Be responsible. -M. Polinsky_

**Melissa: **_People are starting to talk. You need to straighten yourself out. -M. Polinsky_

**Carmilla:** _can't._

**Melissa: **_What do you mean you can't? -M. Polinsky_

**Carmilla_: _**_too gay._

And with that, she put her phone away and looked up, but Laura had vanished. She scanned the nearby portion of the crowd, but Laura was nowhere to be found. She told herself to not be so hasty in jumping to conclusions, but still she knew how some of these parties could get and her heart pounded at the idea.

She sliced her way through the crowd, using her shoulder and elbows as she searched for her missing plus-one, relaxing only when she saw her dancing with some random people.

However, her relief was short-lived as she spotted a guy next to Laura. He was dancing up on her and eyeing her like a prize.

Carmilla felt a stab of both jealousy and protectiveness toward Laura—she wanted that guy away from her. Her sudden onslaught of possessiveness felt like a slap to the face as she went over to them, trying to keep her cool.

"What're you doing?" Carmilla demanded to know.

So much for staying calm.

"Dancing," Laura answered simply. "This is Connor."

Carmilla's jaw locked in place. Laura already had his name.

"Hi," he smiled at her, fueling her green fire.

"_Carmilla_," she practically growled her own name. She was just about to shirt him when a light tap on her shoulder distracted her.

"Hi!" Amber singsonged. Carmilla cringed inwardly. "So I was thinking..."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Carmilla answered. "Did you pull something?"

"No, silly!" Amber giggled and slapped Carmilla's arm. "You bitch! Now I forgot what I was gonna say!"

"Great. Now you're gonna have to do more thinking to remember."

"Oh yeah! I was thinking..."

"You just said that—"

"Oh my God—let me finish! I was thinking... There's someone you should totally meet! Whataya say?"

"And why should I totally meet them?" Carmilla asked, though she already knew the answer.

"Because they're gay—like you! Oh my God, you would love her."

"Well, maybe I'm not interested in—"

"Oh, come on... You said it yourself that you're single. And if you're anything like me—"

"Which I'm not—"

"—you hate being single. Besides. Your gal pal, Lorde, is dancing with Casey anyway."

"Laura," Carmilla corrected her. She ignored the misnaming of Connor and sighed. "Fine. Who is this chick?"

"Her name's Dylan," Amber informed her as she towed her along. "She's absolutely gorgeous. I'd totally go gay for her."

Carmilla raised an eyebrow and glanced down at Amber's fake nails.

"I mean, I'd go gay for you too—"

"That won't be necessary," Carmilla assured her promptly. "Ever."

"—but I like dick. Way too much," she nodded vigorously. Carmilla cringed again, but said nothing. "Stop dragging your feet."

Carmilla sighed and began walking with Amber, pausing only to snatch a large drink off a tray and down it with enough time to replace it. She watched Amber stop suddenly and tap a brunette with wavy hair on the back. Amber then turned and Carmilla was met with a set of piercing green eyes. Admittedly, she was stunned.

"Dylan... This is who I was telling you about! But I'll let her introduce herself."

"Carmilla," the singer managed.

"Dylan," the new acquaintance responded. Carmilla smiled and awkwardly stuck out a hand.

"Hi."

"Hi."

"Wow! You two are really hitting it off! I'll be over there with Eric if you need anything. Ciao!" Amber left them with each other and rejoined her boyfriend.

"Man, the cringe factor was unreal there," Dylan remarked, breaking the ice as she chuckled. "I'm only here because I landed a movie role that Amber wanted and she didn't wanna seem like a sore loser."

"Ah," Carmilla laughed with her. "I'm here because we happened to make eye contact this one time when we were both at the same airport. She was flying out to... I don't even remember where—it was for some acting job in New York or something. And I was coming in for the last leg of my tour."

"Oh, you tour? Do you sing?"

"I do," Carmilla nodded.

"And you said your name was Carmilla..." Dylan trailed off.

Her thinking face was adorable. Her eyebrows pulled together, but not uniformly, and her lips pursed as she concentrated.

"No fucking way!" she exclaimed. "You're Carmilla Karnstein."

"Guilty as charged," Carmilla nodded.

"I had Fall Apart on repeat for a good three months," Dylan admitted. "It helped me through some stuff."

"I'm glad to hear it," Carmilla told her sincerely.

"And it helped me get into character for 'Morning of Mourning.'"

"You're Dylan Mane," Carmilla realized aloud. "That movie was awesome—I can barely recognize you."

"Yeah. Special effects do wonders," Dylan admitted. "I wouldn't think you could recognize me—I was a creature of CGI for half of it."

"True..."

"So what's your deal?" Dylan inquired.

"Well, I've been drinking... That's about it," Carmilla admitted.

"No..." Dylan laughed as she took a step closer to Carmilla. "I mean..."

Her electric eyes swept over Carmilla, not just once but multiple times.

"Are you with anyone?" she inquired, cocking her head.

"I'm with you," Carmilla responded promptly. Dylan searched her face for clues, but Carmilla remained unreadable. Despite her motionless mouth, Carmilla's dark eyes seemed to smile for her as she watched her out of their corners. Dylan picked up on this immediately.

"You wanna dance?" Dylan asked with a tempting smile.

"Not really," Carmilla told her stoically. Was it wrong to turn Laura down and then not turn Dylan down? But even then, Dylan took it as a go-ahead and she yanked her to the dance floor—and Carmilla couldn't help but smile. The girl was trying.

A man with a tray was rushing by just as Dylan found an open area and Carmilla snatched two drinks from him. She guzzled the one in her right hand just as Dylan took the other one.

"That kinda night, huh?" Dylan smirked as she raised the glass to her lips and drank a few sips.

"That wasn't for you," Carmilla half-teased, though she'd released the glass from her possession.

"Well," Dylan replied, handing the glass back to Carmilla. "It's clear to me that you don't wanna dance. At least, not right now."

"What gave it away?" Carmilla joked as she sipped the returned drink.

"How about you just relax and let me loosen you up?" Dylan offered, stepping into Carmilla's personal space. "You don't have to do anything, just stand there and be your sexy self—which shouldn't be too hard for you."

Dylan's eyes did another head to toe sweep of Carmilla before she turned away and began to sway to the beat.

Within minutes, Carmilla was completely captivated by the sight of Dylan with her arms above her head and her rolling hips.

Dylan stopped only to draw the entranced Carmilla in much closer and face her with a mischievous grin.

_Come a little closer,_

_Come a little closer,_

_Baby, baby..._

The music pulsed and Carmilla found herself slowly inching closer to Dylan's magnetic presence. Dylan danced lower and lower in front of Carmilla, lightly running her fingers down her torso.

Carmilla looked down at her and hastily yanked her up, locking her gaze.

Dylan smirked and faced away from her as she pressed her back into Carmilla and began to grind against her.

Her fluid, rhythmic movements engrossed every bit of Carmilla's being, even more so with her sudden flash of heat.

She honestly hoped it was the alcohol because otherwise it meant her lack of control was at an embarrassingly low threshold. And yet, Carmilla found herself start to rock her hips back and forth.

She tried not to focus too hard on the way Dylan's ass rubbed against her thighs with growing vigor.

"You loosen up quite nicely..." Dylan airily commented. Carmilla forced a silent smile. "Let's get outta here."

Carmilla craned her neck and found Laura, still near Connor. She clenched her jaw shut as she refocused on Dylan, who began to pull her toward the door.

Her heart pounded as Dylan stretched up and planted a slow, cautious kiss on her mouth. Dylan then pulled away and looked at Carmilla for a moment launching into what seemed like an attempt for a hardcore make out session, which surprised her—not that Carmilla was in any position to protest.

Dylan was stronger than she looked. She proved that as they practically crashed through the doors and pinned Carmilla against one of them as it swung open.

"Dylan—" Carmilla began to object, but she was silenced immediately as Dylan inserted her tongue into her mouth. Carmilla shuddered as Dylan drew a breathy, barely audible moan from her.

"I wanted you from the moment I saw you," Dylan whispered before going in to kiss her again which only melted Carmilla further.

There was no doubt that Carmilla's judgment was not at is finest, and yet she surprised herself with what she did next.

"Dylan..." Carmilla breathlessly gasped. "I can't."

"I know," Dylan responded quietly. "You were never really interested, despite my attempts. I could tell. It seems that someone else has already captured your heart... She's a lucky girl."

"Her name's Laura," Carmilla confessed and Dylan nodded with a defeated smile.

"And where is Laura right now?" Dylan inquired. "You should be with her."

"Laura's dancing with some guy..." Carmilla grumbled, her words slurring slightly.

"And why is that?"

"Because I didn't want to dance with her."

"And yet you danced with me," Dylan reminded her. "Can you tell me why that is?"

"No—I don't know..."

"Yes. You do."

Carmilla stared at Dylan for a few moments, wondering what on earth she could mean by that.

"Think, Carmilla."

"It was easy," Carmilla admitted. "To dance with you."

"Why? Because you'd never see me again? Because we aren't close?"

Carmilla fell silent.

"You gotta learn to dance sometimes," Dylan told her. "Don't let those kind of opportunities pass you by—you might lose them."

"In the blink of an eye," Carmilla distractedly added.

"Sure," Dylan agreed. "Even that quickly."

It was then that Carmilla just happened to glance over Dylan's shoulder and saw that Laura was watching her intently—and rather frustratedly too.

"Laura..." Carmilla murmured as the petite girl came over fuming. "What're you doing?"

"What are _you_ doing?" Laura retaliated.

"I... It's..." Carmilla fumbled. "It's not what it looks like."

Laura rolled her eyes.

"Isn't that what all the guilty people say?"

"Laura, you have to believe me—"

"Oh, I_ have _to?"

"Laura..."

"I'll be waiting in the car until you've finished up here," Laura told her. "Goodbye."

"Hey! Hey, wait!" Dylan called after her. Laura whipped around and glared at them both.

"I don't want to hear it," she told her as she spun back around on her heel and made her exit.

"I take it that's Laura," Dylan commented.

"Yup."

"Wow..." Dylan nodded slowly as the entire situation processed in her head. "You really fucked that up."

"Yup."


	11. Kiss and Say Goodbye - The Manhattans

Carmilla snapped awake as soon as a song began to play in her room. She could tell that it was something from the seventies and not from this era. It was a soft, lulling tune, meant to instigate tears. She rolled over and saw a record playing on a slightly dusty spin table. She squinted as the sunlight shone through the translucent, cream curtains and nearly blinded her. A man's deep voice began to talk as the song continued:

_This has got to be the saddest day of my life.  
__I called you here today  
__For a bit of bad news.  
__I won't be able to see you anymore  
__Because of my obligations  
__And the ties that you have._

"Isn't it beautiful?" a tranquil, familiar voice inquired cheerfully as Carmilla's eyes adjusted. Carmilla looked and saw Ell standing by the window with every strand of her chestnut hair illuminated. She'd never looked so breathtaking. Her glimmering image seemed surreal and Carmilla felt as if she herself were in slow motion. She blinked dumbly.

_We've been meeting here everyday.  
__And since this is our last day together,_

"Why?" she heard herself ask. She couldn't really come up with anything extremely coherent at that point. Ell's appearance had completely thrown her. The last time she'd even seen her—_seen _being a loose term—was in that other dream in which she appeared and wept before telling her she had to leave her behind. Carmilla felt herself grow cold at the memory.

_I wanna hold you just one more time._

"I like this song," Ell told her as she seemed to float over to her bedside. "Don't you?"

_When you turn and walk away,  
__Don't look back._

"Not particularly," Carmilla responded, evoking a laugh from the girl. She was _real_. Ell was really by her bedside. And God, did she look good.

_I wanna remember you just like this._

"You were never one to agree with my music taste," Ell remarked with nostalgia. Carmilla nodded in agreement. They'd always have little tiffs about which CD or record should be playing or who got the aux cord next.

"Well, your music taste was shit," Carmilla teased lightly. This time Ell nodded. Carmilla had always reminded her about how horrible her taste in music was. She was sure that Carmilla secretly liked it, though she'd never admit it. She always knew the words to any song Ell chose, no matter how much she supposedly despised it.

_Let's just kiss and say goodbye._

"Why'd you come back?" she asked Ell soberly. "I thought you had to go."

"I do..." Ell answered truthfully.

_I had to meet you here today.  
__There's just so many things to say.  
__Please don't stop me 'til I'm through.  
__This is something I hate to do._

"But I couldn't leave it like that. I couldn't leave _you_ like that," Ell explained as she gazed at Carmilla longingly.

_We've been meeting here so long.  
__I guess what we done was wrong.  
__Please darling, don't you cry._

"So what now?" Carmilla asked her, dreading the answer. Ell seemed to falter before stretching out an arm and giving her a small smile.

_Let's just kiss and say goodbye._

"Come," Ell beckoned her. Carmilla went over to her slowly, taking in every inch of her. Ell gently took her hand, pulling her in close and Carmilla held on for dear life—Ell was _real_; Carmilla really had her in her arms—and they began to sway side to side.

_Many months have passed us by;  
__I'm gonna miss you._

"Remember when we used to dance like this?" Ell whispered nostalgically as she nestled her head into her partner's chest. Carmilla nodded and kissed the top of her head. "We danced like fools..."

"Indeed we did."

Ell hesitated before pointing out, "You don't dance anymore..."

_I'm gonna miss you, I can't lie.  
__I'm gonna miss you._

"I don't have anyone to dance _with_ like this anymore," she confessed somberly. "Nor the desire."

_I've got ties, and so do you.  
__I just think this is the thing to do._

"But you could," Ell told her. "Have someone, I mean."

Ell moved her head to look upon Carmilla's face, who looked down at her quizzically. She seemed to be focusing more on her face than what she was saying, which was understandable, given the circumstances. But still, Ell had a point to make and she was going to make it.

_It's gonna hurt me, I can't lie._

"Laura," Ell reminded her with a small smile as she sighed contentedly. Carmilla wished they could stay that way forever. She'd missed the way Ell would occasionally step on her feet—she never knew if it was on purpose or not, but either way she'd found it endearing. She'd missed feeling Ell's body against hers and the way their fingers fit together so perfectly. She'd missed smelling Ell, that sweet, sweet perfume of hers and that strawberry shampoo she always loved to use. And she missed hearing her talk—about anything, really—and laugh whenever she said something stupid. But most of all, she missed how Ell's soft lips felt against hers and the sparks that came with them. They were addictive and Carmilla had been deprived for so long.

_Maybe you'll meet,  
__You'll meet another guy._

"You know, I like that girl a lot," Ell sincerely admitted, taking Carmilla from her reminiscence. "She suits you."

_Understand me—  
__Won't you try..._

"She's _good_ for you."

_Let's just kiss and say goodbye._

"I know," Carmilla hesitantly replied. She hated admitting that to Ell. But she hated lying to her even more.

_I'm gonna miss you.  
__I'm gonna miss you,  
__I can't lie.  
__I'm gonna miss you.  
__Understand me—  
__Won't you try..._

"Then don't push her away," Ell told her. Carmilla looked to the floor. "You can learn to dance again. Just with not with me."

_It's gonna hurt me, I can't lie...  
__Take my handkerchief,  
__Wipe your eyes...  
__Maybe you'll find,  
__You'll find another guy._

"You have my permission, Carmilla..." Ell told her slowly. "I have a feeling that that's what you were waiting for. I'll have you know that Laura is... really the _only_ person I'd want for you."

Carmilla stared at her, but Ell only nodded to further prove her point.

"You know... Besides myself," Ell joked. Carmilla managed to laugh and she gazed into Ell's eyes, burning them into her mind so she could not forget the firey passion they contained. She had a feeling she wouldn't be seeing it again for quite some time.

_Let's kiss and say goodbye, pretty baby.  
__I'm gonna miss you._

"And please understand that I'd never expect you to remain solitary for the rest of your life—it'd be a shame to waste a heart as lovely as yours for something as stupid as that," Ell told her quietly. "I can only hope you'd do the same for me if I were ever in your place."

_Please, don't you cry._

"Thank you," Carmilla found herself saying as she watched tears collect in Ell's eyes. Ell nodded again and smiled through her tears.

_I'm gonna miss you.  
__Understand me—  
__Won't you try?_

"I love you, you know..." Ell told her, and though her voice wavered, she said it wholeheartedly and Carmilla nodded solemnly. She knew Ell loved her. She'd never once doubted that.

"I know."

_I'm gonna miss you..._

Ell stretched to plant a tender kiss on Carmilla's cheek and a single tear rolled down her own. Just as her lips made contact, she seemed to glow as if she were a lightbulb, brighter and brighter until Carmilla couldn't see anything anymore. And then...

_Let's just kiss  
__And say goodbye._

Ell was gone.


	12. Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me

Sunday 9:30  
**Carmilla: **_hey.  
_(Read 9:30)

Monday 8:30  
**Carmilla: **_cupcake?_  
(Read 8:31)

Tuesday 7:15  
**Carmilla:** _hey, hollis!  
_(Read 7:16)

Wednesday 8:47  
**Carmilla: **_laura?  
_(Read 8:47)

Thursday 1:45  
**Carmilla: **_i just wanna talk._  
(Read 1:47)

Friday 4:51  
**Carmilla:**_ did you die or something?_  
(Read 4:53)  
Friday 9:48  
**Carmilla: **_i was sincerely kidding and i am hoping that you're not actually dead because then this would be awkward..._  
(Read 9:49)

**. . .**

"Ms. Karnstein—"

"Please. It's Carmilla," she told him with a polite smile.

She'd been sitting for a good fifteen minutes and was already dying to leave. Mitch had really sped up her album's synthesis process and it was technically ready to be released. He was simply waiting on a few things, one of which was an okay from her.

So here she was, in an interview with some dumb guy who thought he was funny. Melissa had told her to go and be as charismatic as possible—meaning as angelic, polite, and friendly as she could manage. She was being so sweet she swore she could feel a cavity developing on one of her molars.

"Well, Carmilla, I guess I should ask you a question we all want to know the answer to," he told her. She suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. Every question was a question someone wanted to know the answer to—that's why they asked. "What's the name of your upcoming album?"

"My album is called 'Back Together Again,'" she answered.

"Wow! Very contrastive with your previous one, 'Fall Apart,' correct?"

"Yeah," Carmilla sharply nodded once.

"And why is that?"

"Well, with each album, I've had... time to grow in between. You know? It's like um... A milestone in a person's life. A marker. I mean, a lot can change in a week. A month. A year. And these changes—big or small—affect you. And so you change with them. That's life. It just so happens that maybe my current self is contrastive with the person I was before 'Fall Apart.'"

"Well said. You're a very precocious eighteen-year-old."

Carmilla grinned angelically—he had no idea.

"And of course, you know I must ask about..." he flicked a remote and a picture of Laura flashed on screen. "This girl right here. She's been seen with you quite often now. What people want to know is, what's her name? And has she had any influence in regards to your new album?"

"May we select a different topic?" Carmilla told him, struggling to keep a cool head. How much did they know? The problem was that no one in the media ever led on to how much they knew. It was like being in an interrogation.

"An anonymous source told us her name is Laura," he pushed. Carmilla went silent. "And with some digging, we discovered she has a YouTube channel. Dedicated to you. Were you aware of its existence before your guest appearances on her channel?"

"Sir, I asked you very nicely if we could change the subject—"

"The subject right now is Laura," he interrupted. Carmilla glared at him, appalled at his inconsiderate behavior and infuriated that he—or whoever was in charge—had actually looked into Laura. And knowing them, they'd probably dug something incriminating up and/or violated her privacy in one way or another. She clenched her jaw shut once before cutting him off.

"Well. I don't want to talk about Laura. I've made that clear—three times now," she told him, angrily pronouncing every syllable.

"Carmilla—"

"Stay away from her," Carmilla snapped. "She's not worth your time. There's nothing going on between us. No chemistry, none of that Hollywood bullshit. Congratulations, dumbass! You've found nothing!"

Carmilla threw her hands up in the air and stormed off, leaving the cameras rolling and the interviewer stunned.

**. . .**

Sunday 10:27  
**Carmilla:** _laura, i can literally see that you're reading my messages. please respond._  
(Read 10:27)

Carmilla stared at the agonizing three animated circles as Laura typed a response. They were on the screen for a good thirty seconds until they disappeared completely and Laura's response came in.

**Laura:** _Carmilla._

Carmilla stared at the text. There was no way those nine characters took thirty seconds to type. What's more, Laura never used punctuation. That just wasn't her. Carmilla did—why? She didn't know. It's not like she cared about capitalization. Perhaps it was because it had an air of finality to it. But either way, that single dot after her name meant that Laura was furious and it felt like a knife in Carmilla's chest.

**Carmilla:**_ i want to talk to you._

**Laura:** _We're talking right now._

**Carmilla:** _i meant face-to-face._

**Laura:**_ I don't want to see your face._

"Ouch..." Carmilla whispered to herself.

**Laura:** _Sorry, that was mean._

**Laura:**_ But it still doesn't change the fact that I don't want to see you._

**Laura:** _Or talk to you._

"Carmilla, honey. Mitch says you're good to go on your release," Melissa informed her. She looked up and watched the publicist approach.

"What's that tone of voice?" Carmilla wondered aloud.

"Nothing..." Melissa replied. Carmilla waited, knowing she wouldn't be able to keep her mouth shut. "Well, I just find your intervals between albums a bit odd."

"All the better," Carmilla responded. "Give him my go-ahead."

Melissa let out a dramatic sigh as she put her phone up to her ear and began talking.

**Carmilla:** _hey, guess what?_  
(Read 10:51)

She waited, but it was clear that Laura was back to not replying to her texts. Still, she decided to at least coax her out of her silence.

**Carmilla:** "_guess what" means guess what it is i'm gonna say, cupcake._  
(Read 10:57)

**Carmilla:** _i'll give you a hint. it has to do with my album._  
(Read 11:00)

**Carmilla:** _cmon that was a huge hint._  
(Read 11:03)

**Carmilla:** _ok. looks like you're out of ideas._  
(Read 11:06)

**Carmilla:** _not that you seemed to have any in the first place..._  
(Read 11:07)

**Carmilla:** _i see that you're purposely making this difficult for me. no matter. i'll just tell you._  
(Read 11:09)

**Carmilla:**_ i'm gonna be releasing my new album this week._  
(Read 11:10)

**Carmilla:** _pretty cool, huh cupcake?_  
(Read 11:10)

**Carmilla:** _i miss you._  
(Read 11:11)

**Carmilla:** _you were always smiling and so fun to be around._  
(Read 11:11)

**Carmilla:** _and i loved taking you everywhere with me. you made everything less miserable._  
(Read 11:11)

Carmilla glanced at the clock on the top of her screen, which happened to change at that moment to 11:12. She felt her heart sink and she turned her phone off just as Melissa came strolling back in with a huge smile on her face.

"Carmilla, your tour is all set! You'll leave in a few months, assuming everything goes smoothly—it's a good way to keep busy, you know. And you know what being busy does?"

"Keeps my name in the headlines," Carmilla responded perfunctorily.

"That's right," Melissa nodded proudly. "I've trained you well. Now, I'm gonna need you to get proactive and see some people about planning it. I'm talking wardrobe,  
—because you're so picky about what you wear, set lists—because there are songs you prefer and songs your fans prefer, stage effects... I'd advise against mist—we wouldn't want a repeat of your fall two years ago. Also, keep in mind you need a new bass guitar player since you and Tim had that... little tiff."

"It wasn't a tiff," Carmilla argued immediately. "He was being an ass."

"I don't care. You need to find a bassist. And fast. Scout and schedule auditions—and get to it," Melissa told her. "Oh, and contact Mitch. He called earlier and said he had a question for you."

"Yessir," Carmilla muttered as she called him.

"Carmilla!" he boomed from the other end. "How are ya?"

"I'm good, Mitch."

Static.

"What did you want to ask me?"

"That was it. I wanted to check in on you."

"Oh, that was... Nice," Carmilla managed to reply. She'd been caught off-guard by the gesture. "And is there any specific reason...?"

"Well, your interview with Kenneth Rogers the other night concerned me a bit. You seemed a bit... um..."

"Just say it," Carmilla told him.

"Moody. And angry."

"Is that not my persona?"

"Well... You openly dissed Laura."

"What?"

"A bit too believably too, might I add. You really went off. Clips of the interview are everywhere online and people are pestering the poor Laura Hollis. And she's responding."

"She's responding to them and not me..." Carmilla murmured.

"What was that? I couldn't hear you," Mitch apologized.

"Nothing," Carmilla told him.

"Don't you have anything to say?"

"I didn't diss Laura."

"Watch it and see for yourself. Unless you have a twin who's even more sour than you..." Mitch half-joked. Carmilla sighed and went over to her laptop.

"I'm watching," she informed him as she watched the interviewer speak to his co-anchor.

"Last night I had the privilege of sitting down with Carmilla Karnstein and we had a little chat about music, and of course, love."

The program cut to the interview footage of him and Carmilla.

_What's the name of your upcoming album?_

_My album is called 'Back Together Again.'_

_Wow! Very contrastive with your previous one, 'Fall Apart,' correct?_

_Yeah._

_And why is that?_

_My current self is contrastive with the person I was before 'Fall Apart.'_

Carmilla felt herself begin to boil.

"That's not even how the interview went!" she shouted into the phone. "That wasn't even everything I said. They cut and edited it—"

_I must ask about this girl right here. The subject right now is Laura. And... she has a YouTube channel._

_I don't want to talk about Laura._

"I didn't even say that right then! That was later on!" she protested as she watched the new interview play out in front of her.

_Has she had any influence in regards to your new album?_

_No._

_Ms. Karnstein—_

_I don't want to talk about Laura. I've made that clear. She's not worth your time. There's nothing going on between us. Nothing!_

The video cut to the man, who was back in the studio with a co-anchor and he began talking to the camera.

"At that point, the eighteen-year-old refused to say another word and stormed off, so we had to stop filming," he informed the viewers. "Now, Carrie. What do you think of this?"

He turned to his co-anchor.

"I think this is bullshit!" Carmilla spat. "How the hell—"

"As long as you said it, they have it," Mitch told her.

"I think she's an emotional teenage girl," Carrie answered with a theatrical sympathetic expression. "Teenage years are full of changes—she's gone through so much already. She's withdrawn herself from her mother, has absolutely no authority in her life, and just experienced the loss of her very good friend, Ell. I can't imagine how hard it must be to be her and go through that."

"How much can one girl take?" the man agreed, turning back to the camera. "In other news, Lady GaGa has put on weight! She showed up to the red carpet recently looking a little on the heavy side..."

Carmilla closed out of the video and slammed her laptop shut.

"They changed. Everything."

"I didn't think you'd be that blunt. That was a little much. Even for you," Mitch admitted. "Besides, you seemed to like Laura. I didn't think you'd say something like that."

"No wonder she hates me," Carmilla realized aloud. "Mitch, what am I gonna do?"

"Fix it," he told her simply. "Fix it... and she'll come around."

"How?"

"Just do you," he told her. "Listen, I gotta go. Some band is coming in about fifteen minutes, and I gotta seem cool enough for them to want me."

"You're cool as you are," Carmilla assured him. "Bye."

"Bye."

"Carmilla, you may want to check with your fans which songs they'd like to hear on tour—of your own or covers. Go on your Twitter and ask them, would you?" Melissa suggested as she rushed by.

"Who let you in?" Carmilla asked with a joking tone, though a part of her wasn't kidding. She did as told and begrudgingly went onto Twitter account. She checked the last tweet from it.

**carmkarn:** _Excited to announce I'll be releasing my album next Friday! Tour dates will be announced, I can't wait to see y'all there #BackTogetherAgain_

She hit the compose button and her fingers hesitated above the letters on her keyboard as she thought out what she was going to say.

**carmkarn:**_ any songs you wanna hear? tweet me with the hashtag #btatreq. i'll try to accommodate your requests as much as i can._

She hit send and began looking at Laura's profile. She scrolled down and saw several tweets to fans whose usernames she'd seen before and they were all pertaining to her and that damned interview.

**crazy4carm:**_ laura2thelyrics, DID U AND CARM CALL IT SPLITSVILLE? PLS TELL ME IT ISNT SO XX_

**laura2thelyrics:** _crazy4carm, we never even called it Togetherville._

**carmillasass:**_ laura2thelyrics but she was like so mean about it._

**laura2thelyrics:**_ carmillasass ... ¯\\_(°–°)_/¯_

**laura2thelyrics:** _You know all those dumb teen movies about teens meeting and dating their celeb crush? It's all "Hollywood bullshit." #IWouldKnow_

"Laura, Laura, Laura..." Carmilla shook her head.

"Do you have a general consensus yet?" Melissa asked her as she came in again.

"I don't even know what I'm doing," Carmilla complained as she searched the 'btatreq' tag.

"Well, I have a stylist who's dying to work with you. He says he can meet you as soon as tomorrow."

Carmilla eyed her with sheer resignation on her face, her hand loosely holding her phone. Melissa went over with a concerned expression and gently took the phone from her.

"It's late. You need your rest. I'll take care of your set list and you can edit it when you're feeling up to it, okay?" Melissa told her as she set the phone on the nightstand by the bed.

"Thanks," Carmilla mumbled as Melissa flicked the light off.


	13. Untitled

"Carmilla! Come on in! I'm Jacob—I've been expecting you!" the man exclaimed as he opened the door for her. She stared at him, suddenly deterred from entering. Melissa smiled at him and pushed, literally pushed, Carmilla through the doorway with a laugh.

"She's just a little spacey," Melissa falsely informed him. "Had a late night last night."

"Don't I know it, girl..." he shot Carmilla a knowing smile. "This past week for me has been _really_ raunchy."

Carmilla's expression remained stony and he motioned for her to follow him. Melissa made a move to follow them, but he held up a hand, telling her to stay put.

"Managers are _such_ control freaks. I can tell she made you come here, so I might as well free you from your personal guard in this prison," he told her once they were out of Melissa's earshot.

"Thanks," Carmilla replied gratefully.

"Anyway, it's because my boyfriend and I are having a little rough patch," he explained, resuming to their previous topic as they walked. Carmilla walked more behind him than by his side. "Okay, a _huge_ rough patch."

A pause.

"We broke up," he finally admitted, but then brightened. "But you know what they say. The best way to get _over_ someone is to get _under_ someone!"

"No," Carmilla softly replied, inaudible to him.

"So did you and Laura call it splitsville or what?" he pried. "Spill."

"We weren't even really together."

"Oh, you were having a romp?" he smirked.

"No. We were just... hanging out."

"On your hotel bed."

"Yeah," Carmilla nodded.

"That's _adorable_," he cooed. "My boyfriend never liked to cuddle with me."

"We weren't cuddling—"

"Anyway! What're you here for? Latest lesbian fashion trends? Trying to catch some girl's eye?" he winked as he began grabbing clothes off hangers and draping them over his arm. "Flannel is one thing that never goes out with you people, even though the nineties were like, thirty years ago."

Carmilla did a quick calculation and corrected, "Twenty-five years ago."

"Um, last time I checked, twenty-five rounded to thirty," he responded.

"True."

"Beanies are in. They're so cute; they look like little soft serve ice cream swirls on your head," he remarked. "And judging from what you're wearing now, I'd say your best bet is to go for some boots—black ones to be specific—and... leather pants."

"You've covered the entirety of my wardrobe," Carmilla told him.

"And you don't seem like the type to have something in every color…" he commented thoughtfully as he looked at the clothes on his arm. "Monica!"

Carmilla waited with him for a moment, but no one came.

"Monica!" he called again. Still no one. He turned to her and asked, "What's your manager's name again?"

"_Melissa_...?"

"Oh, that's why—_Melissa!_" he showed it this time with a hint of laughter. The manager came right in. "Could you put this back on the rack? I'm sorry, I'm just a bit short-staffed today and I am booked to the _max_ and Carmilla and I still have a _lot_ to do."

Melissa faked a smile and took the clothes from him and he thanked her as he walked away with Carmilla.

"So I guess I shouldn't have jumped the gun. What are you really here for?" he inquired, ready to listen.

"Tour outfits."

"Oh my _God!_ I _love_ doing this!" he exclaimed. "And to think that out of everyone in the biz, you—well, _not_ you; your _manager_—chose _me!?_ I'm _beyond_ flattered! Let's do this!"

Carmilla followed him to another section.

"Do you know your set list yet?"

"No."

"That's fine! We can work with that!" he assured her. "Just give me some themes and I'll pick stuff out accordingly! But first, do you have any complete and utter _ballads?_ I already have an idea."

"Great, what is it?" she asked.

"A dead standstill. Just you and the mic on the stand. Lights dimmed, except for the one on you. It's a real sultry, but somber ambience. You're in a simple, yet elegant black dress—"

"Uh, _no_."

"Shh, hear me out. It'll be sleeveless... like, knee-length, and have cute little ruffles on the bodice. And then there would be a magenta band transecting your waist, which ties in the back and forms a _luxurious_ multi-layered bow—the part of the bow that hangs down, not the loops because that'd look weird. It ends up falling the whole length of the rest of the dress. The skirt part will fall naturally with like, maybe some soft pleats at the most. Striking heels, not too tall, but not really tiny either. Maybe four inches? The shoes'll have really subtle platforms to them and your hair—please tell me you're not drastically changing your hair any time soon because seriously, I am loving the bangs—keep it down and part it on the side with a tousled look."

"And you thought of all that in the span of two seconds?"

"I know it sounds basic, but I figured I should only give you a quick outline rather than delve straight into detail," he replied almost apologetically.

Carmilla mulled the information over before giving him an affirmative nod and saying, "Love it. Continue."

"I see you have your nails painted black… Keep them like that. But be sure to put a layer of clear-coat on them to protect them. They're gorgeous, and you wouldn't want anything bad to happen to them," he advised. "Hmmm... Oh! I really like the thick black eyeliner you have going on. Do that and maybe a little smokey eye for effect. And... And I'd like your lipstick to match your dress' bow as best you can, so figure out the exact shade. And if you have any jewelry that'd go, wearing it would be a bonus. But try to stay away from things around the neck because in combination with the ruffles on the bodice, that's too much and distracting in a bad way. Earrings are fine. Ones that dangle are _really_ fine; I encourage them. Diamonds would be _stunning_ against the black of your hair. Bracelets are also fine. If you do things like anklets—"

"I don't."

"Oh, good. I'd say stay away from those too. And the only other thing I'd add would be maybe a few rings if you're really feeling up to it. Like, rings with big designs to them," he finished. "Sound good?"

"You really _do_ love doing this stuff," Carmilla commented. "You were smiling the entire time."

He sighed with contented pride and a smile.

"I love my job."

"That's great," Carmilla told him.

"Do you love yours?"

"Yeah."

"What's your favorite part?"

"The music," Carmilla replied. "A total cliché, but... it's the truth."

"You are _such_ a tortured, artistic soul… My favorite part would be the groupies. You have groupies, right?"

"I don't know."

"You probably do. You're hot."

"Knock, knock..." a voice softly interrupted from the doorway. Jacob and Carmilla turned to see a familiar face.

"He-_llo_, Ms. Mane!" Jacob greeted her as he ran over. "Oh my God, am I running late?"

He checked the white watch on his wrist.

"No, I'm just early," Dylan told him.

"You are such an angel... That is _so_ unusual in this biz," he remarked. "Most people come really late because they don't want to look desperate or whatever... It really puts a damper on the whole scheduling system I have. I might as well just scrap it."

"Am I interrupting something?" Dylan inquired and gestured to Carmilla.

"Oh, sorry. Where are my manners?" Jacob remembered and took Dylan's hand to lead her over to Carmilla. "Dylan, this is Carmilla."

"We've met," Dylan remarked with a smile. "Good seeing you again."

"You have?"

"Amber's party," Carmilla informed him.

"Oh... Yeah, I didn't go to that. I was not in the mood to be set up with every gay guy she knows. Besides, chances are I already know them."

"That's purely the reason why _we_ met," Dylan laughed.

"Carmilla, I hate to distract you from important business, but I still need to go over your set list with you so we can announce it and tour dates—also, we need to figure out where you want to go for each concert," Melissa told her as she walked into the back room. Her client stared back at her. "Don't pretend you want to stay here—I know you better than that…"

"You brought me here," Carmilla retaliated.

"I could just send your people some ideas later," Jacob offered. Carmilla nodded and mouthed a thank you as she turned to go.

"Oh! Uh, wait!" Dylan called after her, snatching a pen out of Jacob's shirt pocket. She grabbed Carmilla's hand and wrote her number on it. "Text me sometime, yeah?"

"Sure," Carmilla smiled at her; Melissa eyed the two of them. "See ya. And thanks for everything, Jacob."

"Come in anytime!" he waved. "No, seriously—I'm ditching my scheduling system after today anyway."

Melissa set a hand on Carmilla's back and guided her out.

"So, any particular looks you want to warn me about? You know, beforehand so I don't have an aneurysm?" Melissa asked with dread.

"Jacob got me into a dress," Carmilla informed her, though she said it as if it surprised her too.

"Wow! That's... a miracle!" Melissa praised him. "What'd he do, threaten you?"

"No. I liked his idea. I liked that he tailored it to my own personal preferences," she responded. "He paid attention."

"Do I not pay attention?"

"No, or maybe you do, but you just don't care. I only end up doing whatever the hell it is _you_ want me to do."

"I– I don't know what to say..." Melissa quietly answered. Carmilla wondered if this was a strategic move to look sorry, but never have to actually utter the word.

"Let's talk set list," Carmilla sighed, changing the subject. "What're the fans saying?"

"They'd like a mix of your older stuff and this new stuff."

"I hate singing my old stuff— i'm trying to MoveOn and I can't do that if I keep being brought back to the shit that made me write the songs in the first place," Carmilla stated with slight frustration. "It's like sustaining a third-degree burn and throwing yourself onto a pyre—over and over again."

"Then... Don't... Don't sing your old stuff," Melissa told her reluctantly. Carmilla could hear the pain of not following the popular vote in her voice. "In fact, just sing your new songs. If you want."

"You mean that?"

"Yes..." Melissa paused. "And take Dylan Mane up on her offer—if you want to. You seem to really like her, and I think you could use a friend. I've worked so hard at making sure you go here and go there, I never allowed you to have any _real_ friends—hell, you went to _Amber's_ party. That should've raised a red flag with me."

They both laughed and Carmilla nodded.

"That is true," she agreed. "And I think I will take her up on that. Thanks."

"Anything that'll preserve your happiness," Melissa told her cheerfully.


	14. I Love It - Icona Pop

"Your first concert is tonight! Are you excited?" Melissa asked. Carmilla rolled her eyes and took a swig from her water bottle.

"No."

"I know you're just saying that to spite me. You love it up there."

Carmilla shrugged, as that was true.

"And since you didn't take it upon yourself to find a bassist, I had to hire one on the fly. I even gave you two the chance to meet, but you didn't show—"

"Oh, is that what was so urgent? I was busy."

"Doing what? I know everything that goes on with your schedule!"

"Something."

Melissa shot her a look.

"Important."

Truth was that Carmilla didn't even remember what she'd been doing that was so "important." But knowing her, she was probably picking at her nails or reading. Perhaps even writing. Nothing of _huge_ significance.

Melissa sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose as she continued, "Anyway, as I was saying, you didn't show. So if you don't like it, that's your fault."

"Understood."

"And since this is your first show of the tour, you better take precaution and try not mess up like forgetting words or falling on _or_ off stage. Review your songs. I know you wrote them, but that doesn't mean you can't forget what you wrote. And test the friction out. If you think you can't run or do something, don't risk it. Otherwise all everyone's ever going to talk about is how 'Carmilla Karnstein's tour is off to a bad start!' except they'll make a pun out of it."

"'Carmilla remembers to show up, but forgets to showdown,'" Carmilla offered. "'Carmilla falls for her fans—literally.' Or 'Carmilla takes a trip on her trip.'"

"Stop..." Melissa suppressed a chuckle and quickly regained composure. "That's not helping."

"I know my songs, Melissa. I got this. But I can't make any promises about not falling. The mist makes the stage very slippery _and_ I'm going to be wearing heels at one point."

"Try," Melissa urged. "By the way, Dylan Mane is flying in to make an appearance. She wants to offer her support. Isn't that so thoughtful of her? How'd she know?"

"I told her," Carmilla replied.

"Oh, so you invited her?"

"Not really... I only told her my first show was tonight. I didn't even give her the place or time."

"Oh. Well, that was kind of her regardless. So try to acknowledge her so you don't look like you've gotten too big for your leather britches."

"Alright, so. So far I've got 'be minimally pleasant to the bassist no matter what,' 'learn your songs,' 'don't trip,' and 'make eye contact with Dylan Mane.' Anything else you'd like to add? Soup or salad maybe?"

"Oh, don't be silly," Melissa responded. "Now, if you'll excuse me. I have an important call to make. If you need anything—"

"I won't."

"Just relax then. You have to be the best you can be tonight."

•••

"Fuck me, why do I do this? Why do I always do this?" Carmilla muttered as she waited under the stage on her platform, palms sweaty and heart racing. She felt the platform underneath her begin to vibrate as someone switched it on, readying it for her ascent. "Fuck me..."

"T minus thirty, up on five!" a crew member shouted as he briskly walked by, tossing her a microphone. She caught it as he added, "Luck, Karnstein!"

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!" Carmilla whispered to herself. She redistributed her weight on her feet nervously. Melissa came over and flashed her a thumbs up. "What the fuck are you doing, Karnstein?"

"Fifteen!" he called.

"_What the fuck are you doing?_" Carmilla asked again. "You wanna _die?_"

"Carmilla, you know how I feel about your pre-show... _pep_ talk," Melissa chastised her. "What happens if they turn the mic on early—"

"Then they're fired. I don't know. You handle it," Carmilla tersely answered, barely paying any mind to her manager. She shifted her feet once more. "You wanna _fucking_ die!?"

"Ten!"

"_Yeah!_" Carmilla began shouting, ignoring her manager and balling her hands into fists. "Time to fucking die!"

"Five!" he yelled. "Up!"

Carmilla felt the floor underneath her begin to lift her up to the stage and she mentally prepared herself for the roaring screams and multitude of people she'd soon face. And yet, no matter how many times she did it, she could never quite accustom herself.

The noise hit her like a brick wall and she cemented her feet to the ground and locked her knees in place as if she might topple over. She waited for the platform to come to a complete stop before she stepped off and waved to everyone.

Her eyes searched for the mic stand and found it center stage; she walked over to it and adjusted it to her height before snapping the mic into it and clearing her throat to speak. The noise level went down, but barely—only enough so she could be heard.

"Do you guys wanna meet my band?" Carmilla asked, going straight for her normal concert routine. The crowd erupted into cheers. Carmilla nodded with a grin and turned slightly to point to a guitarist. "That's Matt. He enjoys traveling, trying new foods, and long walks on the beach—as long as you're holding the leash."

He waved and the crowd went wild, bringing an even larger smile to Carmilla's face as she pointed to her other guitarist.

"That's the Other Guy. He's afraid of the dark, heights, and his mother when he hasn't cleaned his room in the basement of her house."

More cheering; Carmilla moved on to her drummer.

"That's Will. He loves to bang on things. He'll bang on the table, the couch, the backseat of his car—"

The crowd laughed, and Carmilla had to back up from the mic for a second so she could join them.

"—and last but not least..." she pointed to the new bassist who, much to her surprise, turned out to be a girl. A blonde with blue steaks in her hair at that. Carmilla suddenly regretted standing her up. She paused, completely unprepared by this new information.

"Casey. _Casey_. Her name is _Casey_," Melissa hissed through Carmilla's earpiece.

But in her surprise, Carmilla unintentionally ignored the help and still went with whatever first popped into her head, against her better judgment so she wouldn't look like she'd been caught off-guard.

"That's the New Girl. She likes to _hold_ the leash."

The girl took a step forward, waved with both hands, and made a show of winking dramatically at Carmilla. The crowd screamed the loudest for her, and Carmilla exhaled slowly, relieved everything had gone over smoothly.

"And I'd like to take the time to acknowledge a _very_ special guest who is _not_ a part of my band. You know her from _Morning of Mourning_—Dylan Mane!"

A searchlight did all the work for Carmilla and shone down on Dylan, who was in the front row.

"So, did my people tell you what the deal is tonight and how it's gonna work?" Carmilla asked.

A collective, "No!"

"Here's the deal. You guys shout whatever song you want to hear, mine or someone else's, and I'll do the one I hear the loudest," Carmilla told them. "Because who are we?"

"Carmilla and the Chaos!"

"You hear that?" Carmilla shouted upward, though Melissa knew she was talking to her. "Everything is gonna be chaos!"

Her fans cheered.

"So everything better be ready," she added. She looked back to the audience. "So. What's gonna be our first song of the evening?"

She heard various answers coming from all directions and she waited patiently for Melissa to pipe in via the earpiece.

They had a predetermined set list and order all along; she never actually picked a random one she heard as that'd be too hectic for the wardrobe team, but she liked the idea of it, so she kept the image up that she did. It was something unique.

"First song up is Dead of Winter," Melissa informed her. Carmilla's face visibly dropped, and some members of the audience noticed as the noise began to lessen with each growing second.

"But... that's one of my _old_ ones," Carmilla replied as she stepped away from the mic so no one could hear. By this time, the crowd knew something was up and the noise was at an all-time low.

"It was highly requested on Twitter," Melissa informed her apologetically.

"You said I wouldn't have to sing any of my old stuff."

"No, no... I recall saying something along the lines of, '_Don't_ sing your old stuff,' not that you wouldn't ever have to."

"Carm-Karn! Carm-Karn! Carm-Karn!" the audience chanted. Carmilla shook her head and turned her attention to Melissa's voice.

"What's the difference?" she demanded to know. "You _said_—"

"I say a lot of things, Carmilla. How do you think I got you to where you are? By saying things," Melissa sharply answered. "I also recall that I said, 'Anything to preserve your happiness.' Your happiness hinges on these tours, right? Well, you're not going to get tours if people don't desire to see you, and you won't be desired if don't sing what is in demand. Now get your ass up to that microphone and _sing_, goddammit!"

Carmilla marched up to the microphone, violently ripped it from the stand, and held it up to her mouth.

"Fuck authority!" she spat before dropping the mic on the stage, letting it roll off to wherever it wanted, and storming off the stage.

"Carmilla, what the hell is wrong with you?" Melissa scolded her. "Get back out there. _Now_."

"_Fuck you_," Carmilla snapped.

"_Listen_. These people paid good money for tickets—"

"So let's refund 'em. Just get me out of here," she muttered as she crossed her arms.

"_No_. You _cannot_ and _will not_ cancel a concert, especially the first one of a tour. You go march your leather pants out there and sing what _I_ tell you to."

Carmilla glared at her.

"_Now_, Carmilla!"

"Remind me again why I haven't fired you," Carmilla growled through her teeth as she caved and went back out.

The crowd screamed as per usual, but this time the noise grated on her and her hands clenched into fists at her sides.

"This first song's called Dead of Winter," she muttered sourly as she cast her gaze to the ground. "It's about squirrels."

"Carmilla..." Melissa gave her a warning through the earpiece, and Carmilla sighed and rolled her eyes before beginning to sing:

_Stay, I keep begging you.  
You had me so hypnotized,  
Paralyzed.  
Frozen,  
In the Dead of Winter._

_And as I turn out the lights,  
Draw the curtain,  
I get better at pretending  
That nothing's wrong,  
And nothing's hurtin'.  
It's easy when you've been doing it this long,  
Since the Dead of Winter.  
_

_You're not here to save me;  
I'm not here to save me.  
Life's stopped,  
And I'm hibernating  
Alone, in the Dead of Winter._

_Our love once lived here;  
Long lost warmth now,  
And I'm no longer able to survive  
In the Dead of Winter._

_I shall sleep, my love,  
With you.  
Eternally in the Dead of Winter._

_So let us sleep, my love.  
Together for eternity,  
In the Dead of Winter._

•••

"Carmilla, please... I'd rather—"

"You'd rather? You wanted compromise, you got it," Carmilla snidely answered. She tied the black converse on her left foot and stepped into a black patent leather shoe with her right.

"I didn't say anything about compromise. I said I didn't want you to wear converse with your dress—"

"And I said I wanted to. My feet hurt, and you know what? We'll never agree without compromise."

"Carmilla, don't do this. Please. You'll be a laughing stock—"

"Then say it. Say I can wear the sneakers."

"I can't and I won't. You know I'd rather you wear the heels."

Carmilla raised and eyebrow and waited for a moment before she turned and limped toward the rising platform for her last number.

"You aren't _seriously_ going to do this to yourself, are you?" Melissa called after her.

"Oh, I'm not?" Carmilla asked innocently. She shrugged. "Watch me."

Melissa pressed her lips together, cringing as she watched Carmilla take her place on the platform.

"Carmilla, come on now... Jacob worked so hard on this look. Are you really going to throw his genius aside?"

"He'll understand, I'm sure."

"Up in fifteen! Luck, Karnstein!"

"Carmilla... Carmilla. Think about this. _Really_ think—"

"Ten!"

"Two words for you," Carmilla whispered.

"Five!"

"Your fault," she sneered as the platform rose and the dismayed Melissa disappeared from sight. She turned to face the audience and staggered toward the mic, silently laughing at the image of her lopsided self in one heel and a sneaker. She could almost hear Melissa foaming at the mouth in her earpiece.

"Nice shoes!" she heard someone shout.

"Thanks! Picked 'em out myself!" she responded into the microphone. "But maybe this was a mistake..."

"Carmilla, whatever you're about to do..." Melissa warned.

Carmilla kicked the sneaker off and pushed it to the side. Melissa breathed a sigh of relief in her ear, only to regather it as Carmilla took her other shoe off too.

The crowd collectively screamed just as Melissa screeched in her ear, "Barefoot? _Barefoot!?_"

"Alright, guys. I get to pick this one," Carmilla told them as she walked toward the edge of the stage. "I hate to say it, but it'll be the last one for the night—"

She heard the booing start, and she stopped, looking at her own feet and allowing her toes to pass the edge, dangling above darkness.

"—but I want to thank you guys so much for having me here in..." she paused and drew a blank.

"Germany," Melissa offered in the earpiece.

"Germany," Carmilla nodded slowly. "I want to thank you for having me here in Germany. It's been an absolute blast."

More cheering.

"And this next song... is one of my favorites," she informed them as she sat down on the edge of the stage. "So it's time to get intimate for... a good three minutes here."

"I love you, Carmilla!" a girl shouted from somewhere, and she winked in that general direction.

"This one I wrote on the fly," she continued. "You may remember it from..."

She trailed off and thought back to when the song had simply been an improvisation of hers. For Laura.

_Laura_.

She missed that girl to death. It'd been months since they'd last spoken, and it hadn't even been a pleasant exchange.

"Because sometimes... something—or someone—is so beautiful... it can inspire you in a split second," she continued, dropping her original thought. "This one's called... well, not officially—I changed the name, but anyway... This one's Lisa."

_Light shinin' deep in your eyes,  
You make me smile a thousand smiles.  
But I'm a tin man with broken parts,  
Too much time alone,  
So many broken hearts.  
Yet all I want right now  
Is to dream about a sunset with you.  
You say you're still searchin' for a clear sky  
And I've been known to travel,  
But I'll adore you as best I can  
'Cause I know I could spend my whole life  
Just holdin' onto your hand.  
Just holdin' onto your hand..._

_There's no going back;  
Once you've fallen into the abyss,  
There is no coming back.  
So I'll cross my heart and hope to die  
That you're listening to me, cutie pie.  
You're the sun that will dry up all my tears,  
Strip away my fears.  
And I'm just a few days old,  
I don't know what this is,  
But I know I could spend my whole life  
Just holdin' onto your hand.  
Just holdin' onto your hand..._

_And I don't think you have a clue  
All that you've done to me.  
I still have yet to figure that out too.  
But all I know right now is  
You could be my happy ending.  
'Cause I know I could spend my whole life  
Just holdin' onto your hand.  
Just holdin' onto your hand...  
Just holdin' onto your hand._


	15. Big Girls Don't Cry - Fergie

**2 New Videos from Laura Hollis!**

Carmilla clicked the link in the first email, which had been sent earlier in the week, and brought her to the first of Laura's two latest YouTube videos in which she'd done a cover of a song.

_Hey, guys! _onscreen Laura greeted the camera. She looked slightly more serious than she had in previous videos. _In honor of__Throwback Thursday, I figured I'd do an older song that came out in 2001._

A deep breath.

_So, here it goes..._

Carmilla plugged her headphones in and lay back against her pillow, closing her eyes so she could maximize the experience of Laura's singing.

The intro had barely just begun, but Carmilla could already sense the strong emotion that would surely follow. And when Laura opened her mouth and began to sing, Carmilla's heart surged with every syllable that Laura pronounced as she managed to get through the first verse before hitting the chorus:

_I hope you know,  
__I hope you know  
__That this has nothing to do with you.  
__It's personal, myself and I,  
__We've got some straightenin' out to do.  
__And I'm gonna miss you  
__Like a child misses their blanket,  
__But I've got to get a move on with my life.  
__It's time to be a big girl now,  
__And big girls don't cry.  
__Don't cry,  
__Don't cry,  
__Don't cry._

It felt as if Laura were ordering herself not to cry as she repeated the phrase, and Carmilla mentally kicked herself with each repetition.

_The path that I'm walking I must go alone.  
__I must take the baby steps 'til I'm full grown,  
__Full grown.  
__Fairytales don't always have a happy ending, do they?  
__And I foresee the dark ahead if I stay._

Carmilla allowed a single tear to escape as Laura hit the second chorus, her voice thickened and dripping with emotion. And as she started the final verse, Carmilla felt as if Laura had reopened old wounds and poured salt into them.

_I'll be your best friend, and you'll be my Valentine.  
__Yes, you can hold my hand if you want to  
__'Cause I want to hold yours too.  
__We'll be playmates and lovers,  
__And share our secret worlds,  
__But it's time for me to go home.  
__It's getting late, and dark outside.  
__I need to be with myself and center clarity, peace, serenity._

And as Laura began the final chorus, Carmilla found herself silently crying, and did nothing to stop it.

_I hope you know, I hope you know  
__That this has nothing to do with you.  
__It's personal, myself and I,  
__We've got some straightenin' out to do.  
__And I'm gonna miss you like a child misses their blanket,  
__But I've got to get a move on with my life.  
__It's time to be a big girl now,  
__And big girls don't cry.  
__Don't cry,  
__Don't cry,  
__Don't cry__..._

Carmilla went back to Laura's main channel, and willed herself to watch the second of Laura's newest videos, dreading its content. The thumbnail showed a more cheerful Laura, and Carmilla hoped for the best. The best meaning anything that wasn't this.

_Greetings, viewers! _she began as usual. _Sorry for the depressing video a few days ago, but I've decided to make it up to you guys with some happier content. But in order to do that, I have to first introduce you to someone._

Laura reached over and adjusted the camera, zooming it out to reveal a redhead sitting next to her.

_So, guys, this is Danny! _she exclaimed. _And the happier content of this video is really just good news, which is that Danny is my girlfriend of... a week and a half ago we made it official, right?_

The news felt like a stake in Carmilla's heart and she almost paused the video right there, but something kept her watching.

_Depends on how you define half a week._

_I was a little hesitant to introduce her to you guys, but I decided that I wanted to because you guys would figure it out anyway. I'm not exactly the subtlest on Twitter, and I'm even worse when allowed more characters on Tumblr. And now that we've made it YouTube-official... _Laura paused and stared at Danny expectantly as she waited for her to finish the thought.

_We want you guys to send in some cute ideas for things you want to see us do, like couple tags or fun things to do._

_We can't promise to get to them all, but if we see some we like, we might just do them, _Laura told the camera._ So leave a comment below and tell us what you think we should do—_

_And keep it PG-13,_ Danny added with a grin.

"PG-13," Carmilla muttered to herself. "How incredibly dull."

She exited out of the video as the rest of it seemed like an annoyingly giggly attempt to figure out how to end the video with the least amount of awkward as possible, and who really cared about that? Certainly not Carmilla.


	16. The Science of Selling Yourself Short

**Anonymous asked:  
**When did u and Danny meet?  
**laura2thelyrics:  
**Well, we met a while ago and became fast friends. We only started actually dating about two weeks ago, and it's gone up from there 3

**Anonymous asked:  
**Do the 20 Day couple challenge  
**laura2thelyrics:  
**We'll look into it!

**Anonymous asked:  
**how does c/a/rm/illa feel about this all?  
**laura2thelyrics:  
**I don't know, but why should it matter? If she can move on, so can I.

**Anonymous asked:  
**Do the couple tag!  
**laura2thelyrics:  
**That's the first thing on our list!

**Anonymous asked:  
**u seem really really really really really really really really realllllllyyyyy salty.  
**laura2thelyrics:  
**I am _not _salty! Why do people keep saying this? I've gotten like three other messages on top of this one accusing me of being salty.

**Anonymous asked:  
**fun couple idea, the chapstick challenge!  
**laura2thelyrics:  
**Ooh, that sounds interesting! I'll ask Danny if she's up for that.

**Anonymous asked:  
**cute couple thing: break up.  
**laura2thelyrics:  
**Ha. Ha. Very funny.

Carmilla smirked, scrolled down further and found that others had added a few comments to Laura's latest anonymous message:

**Anonymous asked:  
**cute couple thing: break up.  
**laura2thelyrics:  
**Ha. Ha. Very funny.  
**carmillasass:  
**rude much, anon?  
**karnivore:  
**lol carmilla is tht u  
**crazy4carm:**  
Lmao, wat if this actually was carm  
**karmcarn:  
**omg, id bet my cat that it was  
**carmillas:  
**It was soooo her

The final addition to the post had been made by someone with the URL _cvrmilla_, and it was a GIF of Carmilla smirking offhandedly at something. The entire post had 2,342 notes and counting.

"Carmilla, you have a meet and greet in three hours. I know you're not sleeping," Melissa shouted from the other room.

"Do I—"

"_Yes_, you have to. Shut up and come eat your damn eggs."

Carmilla groaned, but emerged from her room and sat at the table where her breakfast was spread out before her. She couldn't help but notice that only one side of the table was set.

"You're not staying?"

The question surprised Carmilla, who couldn't believe it had even left her mouth. And from the looks of it, Melissa had been taken by surprise too.

"Um, unfortunately no. I have some errands to run," she answered gently. "Not like you'd want me hovering around here, right?"

"Yeah, I was just asking out of courtesy."

"Well, that was... _courteous_ of you," Melissa paused. "I swear, with all the sleeping you do, you could get by living under the floorboards."

Carmilla, grateful for the change of subject responded with her usual bite and muttered, "That's strangely appealing."

She grabbed a ketchup bottle, unscrewed the cap, and quite literally poured its contents all over the eggs. She saw Melissa cringe out of the corner of her eyes and bit back a smile.

"Can't you just drink that like you normally do? Why do you have to mix it with your eggs? It's disgusting..."

"Blood ith blood," Carmilla responded with a full mouth.

"I'll be in the other room," Melissa sighed.

"Thought you had to go," Carmilla reminded her.

"I do. I'll be in the other room for about ten minutes. I have to grab some things, then I'll be off. Try not to miss me and—Carmilla, _please—_don't do anything stupid."

"Me? When would I ever?" she innocently asked.

"Two hours and fifty-five minutes," Melissa called as she went into the next room.

•••

"Hi, I'm Carmilla. Who do I make this out to?" she perfunctorily remarked, using the same line she'd been using for the past hour or so-she wasn't sure how much time had passed, but she knew that she'd gone through at least a couple dozen people already. Had she any more apathy, it would have come out in a monotone.

"Cassie," the girl answered with an excited edge to her voice.

"_Cassie_..." Carmilla echoed to herself as she scribbled something down.

_CASSIE—  
It was a pleasure. Enjoy._  
_-CK_

"Thank you," the girl grinned at her as Carmilla handed the CD back and posed for a quick picture.

"Hi, I'm Carmilla. Who do I make this out to?"

"Erin."

"_Erin_..."

"And the other for Kristen."

"Two?" Carmilla remarked neutrally as she took the albums from her.

"Yep! We're sisters."

_I didn't ask..._ Carmilla thought.

"Kristen and who?" Carmilla asked.

"E-Erin..."

"_Erin_..."

_ERIN—_  
_It was a pleasure. Enjoy._  
_-CK_

_KRISTEN—_  
_Enjoy xx_  
_-CK_

"Have a good one," Carmilla stated as she handed them back. "Hi, I'm Carmilla. Who do I make this out to?"

"Serina."

"_Serina..._"

_SERINA—  
Enjoy._  
_-CK_

"Good one," Carmilla called after her. "Hi, I'm Carmilla. Who do I make this out to?"

"Annie."

"_Annie..._"

_ANNIE—_  
_Enjoy._  
_-CK_

Carmilla wrote out signature after signature, using the same old message with them, and getting lazier with each new person that approached:

_RACHEL—_  
_Enjoy._  
_-CK_

_BRIANNA—_  
_Enjoy._  
_-C_

_HAYLEY—_  
_Enjoy_  
_-C_

_KAILYN—_  
_Enjoy_  
_-C_

_ERIKA—_  
_Enjoy_  
_C_

_MAIA—_  
_Enjoy_  
_C_

"Stephanie," the latest one told her.

"_Stephanie..._"

"I don't know if you remember me—"

Carmilla stopped writing and did her best to conceal her already growing annoyance as she looked up to make eye contact as she listened.

"-But I've come to see you like, seven times. This is my eighth-"

"_Yikes..._" Carmilla mumbled inaudibly.

"—and I just want to say that—"

_You love me and think I'm awesome_, Carmilla's jaded thoughts guessed.

"—I love you so much and you're just _so _awesome," she finished.

"Thanks," Carmilla responded laconically as she looked back down toward the album in front of her. "Stacie is it?"

The girl stared at her, looking utterly deflated and as if she'd suddenly been put in an awkward situation and didn't know what to do.

"I'm kidding! I'm kidding," Carmilla recovered with a fake laugh. Stephanie joined her.

"Such a sense of humor," Stephanie remarked with a final chuckle.

"_Totally,_" Carmilla responded absently as she stared blankly at the album. She still couldn't remember the girl's name. "I'm sorry, I just... I'm trying to think of something meaningful to say. You're just such a dedicated fan..."

She looked up and saw some graphic text on someone's bag from across the room and quickly copied it down.

_Look on the bright side._  
_CK_

"Thanks!" Stephanie exclaimed before leaving happily with her CD. Carmilla still hadn't written her name on the CD.

"Hi, I'm Carmilla. Who do I make this out to?"

"Lexa."

"_Lexa..._"

_LEXA—  
Enjoy  
C_

"_Carmilla_... please, _please_ tell me that you haven't been conducting the entire meet and greet this way in my absence," Melissa's scolding voice remarked.

"I would, but you told me not to lie."

"Lexa, is it?" Melissa asked. The girl nodded. "Would you excuse us for a moment?"

She nodded again, and Melissa pulled Carmilla to the side.

"Are you serious? You're pulling this shit right now?"

"What am I supposed to do?" Carmilla asked. "It's called a _meet and greet_. They meet me, and they greet me. Or rather, it's technically the other way around—"

"Carmilla, listen to me. Listen to me. The tabloids have been having a field day with you. More like a field _week!_ First your Laura scandal, then the concert, and now they're going to have this! Do you not care about anything?" Melissa demanded to know. Carmilla opened her mouth, but Melissa cut her short. "Don't answer that. Don't answer me. Frankly, I don't want to know. But _please_... _for the love of God..._ get your act together! At least for this. You can break down and scream at me in private, but do _not _take your anger out on the fans. That is wretched behavior, and it will not be tolerated. Not by them, not by the media. And you _know_ this. You're a smart girl. You _know _this. Do you think poor Lexa deserved that? What did she ever do to you other than offer you support? Did she spit in your drink? I think not. So why is it that you've decided to treat her, and other girls like her for that matter, like shit?"

Silence.

"You have no answer?"

"You told me not to answer you," Carmilla snarked.

"_Get over there, and be. Happy._ Or at the very least, pleasant..." Melissa tiredly ordered her, and Carmilla sat back down.

"Sorry about that, Lexa..." Carmilla apologized as she finished writing out her message. "So what are you doing in town?"

"I'm going to see your concert."

"_Right_..." Carmilla chuckled awkwardly. She hadn't thought before she'd spoken. "Well, thank you for that. Have a good day."

She waited for the next fan to approach and plastered a smile on her face.

"Hey! How ya doing? I'm Carmilla! What can I do you for?"

"Can you sign this, please?" the girl giggled nervously. "To Katie."

"Katie..." Carmilla repeated. "So, what's that short for? Katherine? Kaitlyn?"

"Katherine."

"Ah, a very _regal _name. Love it," Carmilla remarked as she jotted something down. "It was lovely meeting you, Katie. Enjoy the rest of your day!"

"I will, thanks!"

"Hey, hey! I'm Carmilla! And you are?"

"Jessica."

"Jessica? What a coincidence because I was jessi-comin' over to sign your CD! And take a picture, if you'll let me," Carmilla joked and eyed Melissa who gave her a subtle thumbs-up. She would've rolled her eyes had she been alone.

_JESSICA—  
Love ya, gurl_  
_~CK_

"You up for a pic?" Carmilla asked, and Jessica nodded. "Awesome! You want a silly one or a serious one? I'll do both, if you really want."

"Then both!"

"Alrighty then!"

The two of them took a few pictures before Carmilla had to move on to the next person.

"Hey!" Carmilla exclaimed over-enthusiastically. It was going to be a long day.


	17. I Don't Care - Green Day

"Carmilla, we need to talk..." Melissa gravely informed her.

"There are no sweeter words that come out of your mouth," Carmilla responded with an air of annoyance as she prepared herself for the inevitable lecture she was about to receive. She put her feet up on the suite's coffee table, clasped her hands behind her head, and leaned back, closing her eyes.

"You overdid it at the meet and greet. People thought you were high," Melissa reported. Carmilla chuckled, but regained composure in time to answer.

"Um, _yeah_, I _know_. That's kinda _why _I did it," Carmilla innocently remarked. "You always tell me to that you get famous by sparking discussion."

"Yes, but... Well, you—" Melissa paused, struggling to find a rebuttal, but failed. "Just don't... don't do _that_."

"Yessir," Carmilla saluted her.

"Carmilla, I'm serious. Go read about yourself."

Carmilla opened her eyes just to roll them and sighed.

"Anyway, some people are going to stop by—be kind. Please. They'd like to discuss a movie with you—"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. A movie?" Carmilla cringed and took her feet off the table as she sat up straight. "I know Hollywood loves triple threats like, I don't know, J-Lo, who's a singer, actress, and model, but I'm not interested in turning my career into the Hollywood Holy Trinity."

"You're not going to have to act or model, Carmilla. It's just a movie about your life now with some tour footage thrown in. Kind of like Katy Perry's world tour movie. Just be yourself and allow some backstage and behind-the-scenes access, that's all."

"I didn't even _know _Katy Perry did one of those," Carmilla scoffed dismissively and thought for a moment. "It bombed, didn't it?"

"You're just not caught up with pop media—"

"You're only just affirming my statement right now. It bombed," Carmilla insisted. "Because had it been a huge success, I'd have never heard the end of it, just like I already don't hear the end of Beaver or that stupid Disney movie,_ Ice Age_."

"_Ice Age_ came out fourteen years ago, and it wasn't even a Disney-produced movie. My point exactly. You are _way _behind the times."

"Froyo?" Carmilla tried again, and Melissa pursed her lips and shook her head. "Frozone?"

"Closer... Frozone's a character from _The Incredibles_. At least you're in the right decade—actually, no. You're not. That had to have come out over ten years ago too..."

"Freezin'," Carmilla guessed.

"Oh, give it up, would you?" Melissa retorted. "The guys will be here soon, so try to seem at the very least a little interesting."

"Ouch," Carmilla facetiously remarked as Melissa turned to leave.

"_Frozen_."

"Well, I wouldn't go so far as to say _that..._" Carmilla rolled her eyes. "That wasn't _that _good of an insult—"

"No, the movie. It's called _Frozen_," Melissa replied as she smugly walked out of the room.

"Knew that," Carmilla muttered. She heard Melissa snort, and chose to ignore it. "It's not like I don't see Elise and her snowman Oliver everywhere anyway..."

•••

"Ms. Karnstein! So good to meet you," two men greeted her in unison and took turns shaking her hand.

"Carmilla is fine," Melissa pleasantly assured them, and they nodded, instantly looking more relaxed.

"Actually, Ms. Karnstein is preferrable," Carmilla remarked passive-aggressively. Melissa gave her the evil eye as a warning, but she ignored it. The guys exchanged a look, between themselves, but made no comment.

"So! How would you like to go about this?" one of them-the one with the red baseball cap on-asked. He seemed to be the more confident one, and was probably in charge simply because he'd imposed it himself.

"_Well_, first I'd like to know who I'm talking to," Carmilla commented with an underlying bite as she looked over at his partner.

"Oh, uh... Right. I'm Jeff, and this is Eric," he pointed.

"Nice to meet you, Eric," Carmilla offered him her hand again. "Get a load of Baseball Cap over here—can barely get a word in edgewise. Bet you were more than capable of introducing yourself, am I right?"

There was a flash of something across Jeff's face—Carmilla saw it in her peripheral vision as Eric chuckled nervously, unsure of how else to react—but by the time she turned to give Jeff an angelic smile, he'd recovered and masked it completely.

"Can't wait to work with you, Ms. Karnstein," Jeff declared evenly. She could sense his frustration, but elected to disregard it and work with it.

"Mm," she grunted indifferently before adding an air of boredom and a hint of impatience in her tone. "Melissa, are we done?"

She turned to see Melissa with partly crossed arms, that is, one crossed normally, and the other, which had likely been crossed up until moments ago, reaching up to allow her hand to pinch the bridge of her nose in exasperation.

"Oh, we're done alright..." she stiffly affirmed. She moved to open the door for the men, who left a little too eagerly. "Carmilla, I know you weren't trying to sabotage your own opportunity for a movie... because that would be stupid..."

"_Me? _Of course not!" Carmilla dramatically negated. "How dare you accuse me of such stupidity? Are you not the person always saying, 'You're a smart girl, Carmilla,' to me? Unless you're lying..."

Melissa glared at her for a moment, arms crossed and jaw clenched, but never daring to say anything in retaliation.

"'Ms. Karnstein?' Really?" Melissa complained. "Isn't that a bit pretentious for an eighteen-year-old?"

"Isn't having a net worth of eight million a little pretentious for an eighteen-year-old?" Carmilla retorted, to which Melissa had no response.

"I'm just going to tell you what I always do—"

"Which is?"

"Don't fuck up."

"Yessir. You can count on me, Sir," Carmilla saluted her.


	18. Knockin' on Heaven's Door - Guns N Roses

**Guess Who's _Killin'_ Us with Cuteness?_  
_**_We'll give you a hint: Cylan! (Said like "killin'," hence the terrible pun—please excuse us for that, by the way.)  
Cylan is comprised of eighteen-year-old singer/songwriter Carmilla Karnstein (best known for her latest released album,_ Fall Apart; _read more about Carmilla **here**), and nineteen-year-old actress Dylan Mane (best known for landing the lead role in the action-thriller movie,_ Morning of Mourning; read _more __about Dylan **here**). __Yes, it's true! The two cuties pictured below are (un)offically an item—and a priceless one at that!_

Carmilla scrolled impatiently past two pictures, one of Dylan at some red carpet event, and the other of herself on stage during a concert from a few years back. The photo struck something deep within her, but she didn't quite know exactly what had been affected. She figured it'd hit her sometime later.

_Cylan was spotted over the weekend in Germany, where Carmilla kicked off her world tour. Dylan showed up to offer support for her new GF and was front and center in the audience to cheer the rockstar on. She even received an extremely rare shoutout from the singer herself, after she had finished introducing her band members which consisted of her usual guitarists Matt and Phil 'The Other Guy,' her drummer, Will, and a new blonde bassist whom Carmilla dubbed as 'The New Girl,' and boy, is she hot-hot! Looks like Dylan may actually have some competition in this budding relationship..._

_But anyway, for those of you who don't know, Cylan was first seen together at **Amber Franci's 25th Birthday Party **(25? _Seriously? _Isn't this like, her fourth 25th birthday?), where an eye witness saw them dancing—and by dancing, we mean R(-for-raunchy)-rated club dancing, not cutesy, romantic slow-dancing. That same eye witness reports that there was even a good amount of lip-locking between the two (pictured below)._

Carmilla covered her eyes with annoyed disbelief as she scrolled further down the article, cursing her own stupidity, the media's blatant disregard for privacy, and the (unfortunate) verity of the photos that were oh so incriminating.

_They're so adorable, it's ridiculous. Seriously. They're like something out of a TV show. They've got the looks, the love-at-first-sight romance, and__—__drama._

_Where's the drama, you ask? Pull up a chair._

_As we mentioned before, Cylan hooked up at Amber Franci's 25th. Pretty innocent, right? (Save for the dirty dancing, of course.)_

_But in case you were unaware, Carmilla was allowed a plus-one to the party, and she exercised this liberty by kindly taking none other than YouTube vlogger, blogger, and #1 Fan, Laura Hollis (you can view Laura's YouTube channel **here**, which features some fantastic discussions, covers, and of course, fangirling over Carmilla Karnstein). But this isn't the first time we've seen Carmilla and Laura together. We saw them together when Carmilla first appeared as a special guest in one of Laura's videos, in which she answered fan-submitted questions, offered sarcastic quips with her signature Carmilla bite, (possibly) flirted, and even sang an improvised song for Laura (the degree of just actually how much it was _for _Laura is up for debate; see: **Discussion of the Day - Is Carmilla's Song for Laura, or For Laura?**) You can watch the video of this magnificent exchange between the fan and her idol **here**. And only hours later did Laura upload a **Part Two** to the video after clearly having broken the ice between her and the singer. The second parter contains an abundance of smiling and laughing—all things _not _very Carmilla. Oh, and we almost forgot to mention the myriad of extremely gay lip-staring (see below)._

Carmilla paused for a split second to see the several screenshots they'd gleaned from the video and embedded into the article, and she couldn't help but smile a little. They did indeed look 'extremely gay.'

_Cute, right? Right! ...Well, until you remember that she left Laura in a lurch at Amber's party. (Awkward!)_

_And to make things even more awkward, reports say that a verbal dispute occurred between the starlet and her disciple that ended with Laura leaving the party early__—__and _alone_. (Yikes!) What's worse is that this isn't the first time Carmilla showed her true intentions with Laura. Just weeks before this, she sat down for an interview with Ken Rogers in which she made it clear that she did not want to talk about Laura and even went so far as to say that she 'wasn't worth anyone's time' and that it was 'all Hollywood bullshit.' (Double-yikes!)_

_Carmilla and Dylan haven't made any further comments on the matter, but Laura, who isn't as well-versed in dealing with the public eye, has been quite verbal about the whole thing, expressing her thoughts on Twitter (related: **What Carmilla's Exes Have to Say About Their Time with Her**). Warning! Don't hold your screen too close or you may find that you've singed your eyebrows off from the burns Laura's been dishing out lately:_

**laura2thelyrics: **_You know all those dumb teen movies about teens meeting and dating their celeb crush? It's all "Hollywood bullshit." #IWouldKnow_

_(Triple-yikes!)_

**laura2thelyrics: **_You're a bad bitch alright... Just not the definition I was thinking..._

_(Quadruple-yikes!)_

**laura2thelyrics: **_Maybe your career would have less of a hard time growing if it weren't being constantly strangled by those leather pants of yours._

_(Quintuple-yikes!)_

**laura2thelyrics:** _U say u "dont care," but the 2+ hrs u spend on eyeliner alone&amp;the time calculations u do to ensure youre "fashionably" late say otherwise..._

_(...We forget what number of yikes we're currently on. But even if we knew, we probably wouldn't know the appropriate word for a number that high.)_

_Who knew you could fit so much salt into 140 characters? (She barely fit that last one in!) Though cruel, Laura makes some pretty interestingly relevant and amusing posts on **her blog**, where she isn't restrained by a 140-character limit the way she is restrained on Twitter and is therefore able to make some pretty revealing comments so savage (such as the one below) that they can only be described using one word: golden._

**laura2thelyrics:  
**While what I'm about to say may make your mascara run, I hope it not only effectively cleans your eyelashes, but also your eyes so that you can finally see what I do. You spend so much time creating an image and molding yourself to be something you're not. You always say that you "don't care," but you don't even realize that you actually _do _care about something, and that something that you care about is _not _caring. You "don't care" _so _much, that it's hurting you. And the fact that you even have that as a part of your personality is, to some degree, scary. But on a more prominent note, it's honestly _pathetic_. Your not caring is just your latent caring of what others think of you. You're always preaching some bull like "You can't care about what anyone thinks of you," and "Don't try to be cool and fit in," but what you don't realize is that when it comes down to it, you're just _like _everybody else. You think that not caring sets you above everyone else and you think that it makes you look cool. You're doing the exact opposite of what you say. You consciously avoid all the mainstream stuff because you want to be cool, but not in popular-cool way. You want to be cool in the "uncool" way, but the "uncool" way is still "cool," that's why you're not the only one doing it. You're just a huge hypocrite, and anyone who doesn't see that is just a blind, foolish sycophant. And I think that _that's _uncool.

_Ouch. What do you get the girl that has everything? Laura Hollis has an answer: a reality check!_

_So tell us: are you Team Dylan or Team Laura? Do you think Laura is in the right to be making these kinds of comments? And how do you think Carmilla is feeling in the middle of all this? Leave a comment below!_

"Not going to lie, that looks like it hurts a little bit…" Melissa commented, reading over Carmilla's shoulder.

"Oh, shut up. It's just tabloid bullshit," Carmilla rolled her eyes and closed the laptop.

"The tweets too?" Melissa inquired. "Are those tabloid bullshit too?"

"Don't do that."

"Do what?"

"You don't get to enjoy this," Carmilla told her, rising from her chair and pushing it in. "You don't because this is your fault."

"_My_ fault?" Melissa asked, following Carmilla into the kitchenette of the suite. "_I_ didn't make you see Laura in the first place. From what I recall, she snuck into your room, and from there, your bleeding heart. And I didn't make you go to that party with her. I didn't make you go over to Dylan. And I most certainly didn't force Dylan to dry-hump you—"

"Okay, that is _not_ what happened."

"Does it matter if it didn't?" Melissa responded. "If that's what the media says happened, then that's what happened regardless of what the truth is. My point is, I didn't make you do _anything_."

"You didn't want me near her," Carmilla reminded her, taking a bag full of a red liquid substance out of the refrigerator. "That was enough."

"Are you trying to suggest that my sheer will was the cause of this little rough patch in yours and Laura's relationship?" Melissa scoffed, watching Carmilla pour the contents into a mug. "That's a bit melodramatic, if you ask me."

"I didn't ask you," Carmilla shot back as she stuck the mug in the microwave. "For anything. You were _supposed_ to be my publicist. That's _it_. And now you're my manager—why?"

"Your manager quit a while ago. I didn't tell you because you had a lot going on."

"Or you didn't want me to fill the position you could easily slip into," Carmilla guessed. "_Supposed_ to be my publicist. _Then_ you became my manager. And now you're, well, guess."

"A bitch?" Melissa asked dryly, opting for Carmilla's usual go-to nickname for her as the microwave beeped and Carmilla took the mug out.

"Good one, but no..." Carmilla answered without even cracking a smile. She took a sip of her drink and set it on the counter. "You're a fucking _tyrant_. And I am this close to firing you, which is something I should've done a long, long time ago, admittedly. But I didn't because as terrible as you were—_are—_you were good. Really _fucking _good. At your job, and at smoothing things over. But you're losing your talent, Ms. Polinsky. Which sucks for you because I _promise_ you that you _will _be out of a job in the near future. The only reason I haven't fired you in light of recent events is because I am on tour, and as you so eloquently put, I have a lot going on, meaning that I need you, unfortunately. I need you to keep the structure in my life amidst all the chaos, and I need you to tie up all the loose ends of the various projects you've started. Like trying to _force_ me into making a dumb fucking movie. I don't _want_ to make a movie. I don't _want_ a camera pointed in my face all the time, following me around, and waiting for me to fuck up in one way or another. It's nerve-wracking. And I'm only telling you all of this now because I wanted to give you one last _extremely_ undeserved chance to change the way you do things and do right by me. I want to believe that you can do better when it comes to me. Once you prove that to me, you'll be out of the danger zone. But until then… I'd recommend going on a job hunt."


	19. Are We All We Are - Pink

"So to go with your theme of being alt—"

Carmilla rolled her eyes as Jeff spoke, but didn't dare interrupt. She'd already been interrupting him for the past half hour and yet he still didn't seem to get the hint.

"—we decided to hire an unknown to film. His name is Eugene, and he'll be here in about fifteen minutes. If all goes well, this movie should really boost his—"

"Tell him not to bother," Carmilla shrugged.

"What?"

"Tell him not to come," Carmilla ordered. "Look, if you want to stick with my so-called 'alt' theme, you're going to have to stick to it my way. It's a distinct brand. It's me. I didn't hire Eugene, I didn't OK Eugene. He doesn't fit my theme because I had no say in it. Ditch him and start doing things my way. It is my movie, isn't it?"

"But we already—"

"Do you want this movie made or not? Him or me, Jeffrey."

"I've told you a thousand times it's just Jeff. And Ms. Karnstein—"

"Drop him," Carmilla demanded. Jeff faltered, but eventually caved and put his hands on his hips as he mulled over his options.

"Fine. Consider him gone. I'll have Eric call him right away. In the meantime, since we no longer have someone to film, why don't you find a fucking replacement yourself because you want to be so difficult."

"You will call Eugene yourself," she retorted. "Don't make Eric do the dirty work. This is your fault, and you're going to deal with it. And… You're going to start talking to me with some respect or you'll be out of a job too. Jeffrey."

She paused to let her words sink in.

"Melissa!"

"Yes?" Melissa responded immediately, as she had been ever since their little talk.

"Remove him from my sight. I've had enough eyesore for today."

"You heard the girl," Melissa told him. "Out."

Jeff all-too-eagerly let himself out, and once Melissa was sure he was out of earshot, she turned to Carmilla and stiffly asked her a one-worded question.

"Happy?"

"Ecstatic," Carmilla smiled angelically.

"Get to your makeup trailer. They've been waiting on you for forty-five minutes while you heckled Jeffrey—I mean, Jeff. You don't want to start another concert late."

"Yes, Ma'am!" Carmilla saluted her, spun on her heel, and left.


	20. Speechless - The Veronicas

"Wait a moment," the man instructed the girl before he opened the door leading to the next room and disappeared behind it as he closed it. He turned to Carmilla and nodded at her. "Next one's ready. She seems a bit nervous to meet you. Nothing abnormal for you, I'm sure."

"Is she calm enough to talk?"

"I'd say so."

"Send her in," Carmilla ordered as she sank to her seat, taking on a grave expression. He nodded once again, then went back the way he came and appeared before the girl once again.

"She'll see you now. It's down to you and one other contender, but it's pretty much yours. Tread lightly. She's in a mood."

"I'll try," the girl promised him. Her heart pounded. What if her soon-to-be boss' foul mood cost her the job before she even got it? Her palms were sweaty, and she took a moment to wipe them on her dress pants, straighten her shirt out, then open the door, holding her breath all the while.

"Hi, I'm—" the girl's voice caught in her throat as soon as she saw Carmilla. "Oh, it's you..."

She closed the door softly behind herself.

"Hi, Laura."

Carmilla looked uncharacteristically timid, and it caught Laura slightly off-guard. So she did the best she could to cover it up by making an attempt at small talk.

"I'm here to see my boss… What are you doing here?" Laura asked, though it didn't sound as if she cared. "I didn't think you were looking to film a movie..."

"Well, um… I guess I should just come right out and tell you…" Carmilla paused. "I'm 'the boss.' The movie you're working on… is mine."

"What?"

"They wanted me to make a movie, and I said no, but Melissa rigged it somehow—I have yet to figure that part out—and so then I got sucked into this and figured, hey, if I needed someone to shoot, it might as well be you," Carmilla told her. "I specifically requested you."

"So the only reason that I'm here... is because of you? Not my own work—"

"Don't say it like that-"

"It's true, isn't it?" Laura paused, looking more and more annoyed by the second. She turned to leave and said, "You know, maybe I don't want this job so badly after all."

"Laura, please…" Carmilla caught her by the hand. "I had to see you again."

"Right," Laura flatly responded. "Well. I don't know if you've been keeping up with my life, but if you haven't, I have a girlfriend now. Her name is Danny."

"No... I didn't know that..." Carmilla lied. "Um. Congratulations to… to the both of you."

"Thanks," Laura answered, but she didn't seem as grateful as one would expect. She glanced down at both of their hands, and Carmilla realized she hadn't let go, not in the least bit, so she hesitantly released Laura from her grip.

"You'd start today, that is, if you accept the job. Do you?"

"I do," Laura decided.

"Okay, well…" Carmilla cleared her throat. "What this project is… It's basically an insider thing. An insider to my life and touring and stuff. So you just have to get me when I'm in my natural state."

"Isn't that all the time?"

"I don't know..." Carmilla responded pensively, and Laura had to keep herself from rolling her eyes.

"I'm going to go take my lunch break," Laura informed her as she went for the door again. She turned the knob and pulled it open, but paused in the doorway and seemed to soften. "I'll see you in two hours?"

"Yeah," Carmilla nodded, and Laura continued on her way. "Two hours."


End file.
